A Different Ranma, A Different Life
by Hermione Blackwood
Summary: For lack of a better title. This is a retelling done with one small change that affects the entire story: Ranma *likes* the 'curse'. See the first page for more details, but the basic idea is Ranma is trans and slowly realizes that the curse is the best thing to happen to her, and that realization can change everything.
1. Introduction to the Concept

An Introduction.

Hey all, trying my luck at an old concept that's been done to death here. Every time I see a Ran-chan story like this, where she's trans or otherwise is actually a girl in whatever way, rarely do I see things stay in-character. My goal here is to keep things faaaairly close to character, as much as possible.

But, since this is a re-telling, I also have to start from ground zero. As any other Ranma fans out there know, the series started off fairly shoujo and turned more into episodic situational comedy as it went on. In the beginning, Ranma was shy, rarely acted on ego, and was pretty indifferent to the curse (even going so far as to say she didn't care if her first day at school was as a girl), a far cry from how Ranma was at the end of the series.

So I've been toying with the idea of Ranma being transgender. Obviously she and everyone else around her have no idea that that's even a thing, so it plays out naturally, with one thing becoming alarmingly clear the day she's cursed in Jusenkyo: the new body feels more comfortable and natural to her. As such, she doesn't hate it but rather hates how her dad and everyone around her keeps telling her she should, in their not so subtly sexist ways. Genma, in particular.

If Ranma is content being a girl, and would rather be a girl as much as possible despite her never admitting it aloud, how would that first day at school go? How would she react during the big fight with Ryoga where he learns of her curse? How would the full-body cat's tongue story play out? That's what I've been thinking about with this, keeping character personalities fairly consistent with how they were at the start of the series. It's given me some great ideas and I'd like to share them.

Old hat, I know, but I've yet to see one truly stick to character and truly stick to the story, so I want to try. My original content is basically going to be dialogue, feelings, and certain interpersonal relationships that will be pretty different from the source material, but the personalities should all be there in the end, and the stories will be the actual stories done with those new set-ups.

I may bleed story elements or arcs from the anime and manga together (Sasuke, an anime-only character, might show up one day), but I'm hoping to stick closer to the manga. Especially the early years of it. As such, girl-type Ranma has black hair, she's slightly more friendly to Akane at the start (we'll see how that evolves with her new personality traits), her bust is realistically and naturally proportioned (like at the start of the manga), and the school will know about the curse early on. In the manga, iirc, they find out during Ranma's first fight with Mousse, but I might do it during the Ryoga fight to set up some new content that goes with the new premise.

I'll try to gloss over parts that stay the same with the source so that nobody has to read them for the billionth time, but since the first few chapters are all set-up with character introduction and setting introductions, please bear with it. Once we get into the more episodic stories, it'll evolve naturally like the manga did to incorporate more comedy with the new perspective, and less repetition from the source.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long-winded introduction to the premise of this fic (I suck at writing synopses), and if you're interested, the first chapter's just around the corner. It's the first story/episode, so most of it's stuff everyone already knows, but with some unique twists on Ranma's inner personality that set up the rest of the story. Boring, done a billion times, but necessary. Please bear with it until we're past all that.

And thanks for reading!


	2. Ch1: Here's (a slightly different) Ranma

On a rather average rainy day in the rather average ward of Tokyo known simply as Nerima, something not so average was unfolding in an alley between a girl and a giant panda. It was no average panda that confronted the girl in hand to hand combat, standing on his hind legs and throwing punches like a human, but it was no average girl either who was able to so skillfully dodge the attacks and even launch a few of her own.

The skirmish led from the wet alleyway towards a busy street bustling with people who froze in shock at the sight of the girl and the panda exchanging blows. As the girl was backed towards a wall, the blows stopped for a moment as both opponents mentally played out the fight moves in advance to each decide their best course of action. The silence of this moment was broken only by the patter of rain on the umbrellas of the bewildered people until, much to their surprise, the girl suddenly spoke to the panda. What was really surprising, however, was what she said.

"This whole thing _sucks_! I don't need a fiancee, especially some girl I've never even met! I don't even _want_ to marry a girl, anyway! I'm way too young for that and I've got better things to do, like go back to China!"

An arranged marriage, in 1987? And between two girls, no less! Kids! And what's a kung-fu panda have to do with marriage? The few simple sentences uttered by the petite girl left way more questions than answers in the minds of her audience, but if anyone understood what she was talking about, it was the panda who let out an angry gruff at the girl's statement and renewed his attack with newfound vigor. It didn't last long though, as the girl had clearly planned for his choice of actions and had a swift counter that splashed the panda hard into the ground.

Walking past the animal and picking up her soaked backpack, she turned back to the panda to inform it that she'd be going to China, and that was that. She went on her way but before she could even take ten steps, the panda snuck a cowardly attack to the back of her head with a ripped-up road sign, knocking her out cold. With a heave, and a growl to ward off nosy witnesses to the kidnapping, the panda hoisted the unconscious girl over its shoulder and was off.

Elsewhere in Nerima, Soun Tendo loosed tears of joy poring over the simple postcard sent by his friend, informing him that he was on his way with Ranma, the man's son. At long last, Soun and his friend Genma's plan to unite their schools was going to happen, and Soun wasted no time in collecting his three daughters to meet their guests.

Not long after the girls were gathered did the group hear a loud ruckus coming from the entranceway to their dojo home. They all ran to see what was the matter and were greeted by a panda being repeatedly knocked in the head by an angry girl, screaming to be put down. When the panda saw the scared faces of Soun and his daughters, it finally obliged and set her down to face the strangers.

Overcoming the fears and questions of a giant panda in their house, Soun worked up his courage to ask the girl her name, and shyly, she broke her gaze with the elder man and replied, "I-I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Soun, however, was ecstatic. Saotome, the name of his old friend Genma, and Ranma, the name of the son that would wed his daughter and unite the schools! In a burst of joy Soun hugged Ranma as tight as he could, welcoming her to his home, but in the embrace he felt something a bit odd for a boy of sixteen to have. Two things, actually.

The daughter wearing a kimono noticed this as well and gave Ranma a very thorough pat-down, which she was not prepared for in the slightest. After the girl's hand cupped her, Ranma smacked it away with a blush and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"H-hey! Who said you could grope me?!" she shouted in little more than a whisper, feeling both embarrassed and publicly violated at once.

The other girl recoiled a bit but responded, "What's the problem? We're both girls."

Ranma took just long enough to think of how to respond to the observation and casual allowance of personal space violations that the moment became just a tad awkward before she stuttered out, "J-just don't touch me like that, ok?" Feeling immediately resentful that she snapped on the stranger, she added the qualifier, "Please." She didn't want to make any enemies just yet.

"Both... girls..." Soun whispered in shock to himself, taking in the scenario and realization that the child he thought would marry one of his daughters and unite the schools; the man needed to sow his oats and propagate the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, was in fact another girl and thus unable to continue the lineage, shattering his hopes and dreams on what must be a horrible misunderstanding... it was enough to make the poor man faint.

A while later as he was coming to, the same girl in the kimono made no effort to ease her father into the reality of the situation and reminded him once again that Ranma was, in fact, a girl. She made a point of touching Ranma's breast again just to emphasize the fact to her father, but before the visibly upset Ranma could bite the girl's head off for touching her _again_ , one of the other daughters stepped in.

"Nabiki, stop it! Can't you see you're upsetting her? Girl or no, she is _still_ our guest!" The brunette in the kimono frowned and turned away, leaving Ranma alone for the moment. Ranma turned to thank the other girl but before she could, she said, "Hey, I'm Akane by the way. You study kenpo, right?"

"A-a little," she shyly replied to her savior. ' _Akane_ '. That's a name Ranma wouldn't soon forget. She had long flowing black hair tied at the end; a shade of black that seemed to have a slight bluish tint under the right light. She also looked about the same age as Ranma, from what she could tell. Judging by the gi she wore, she must be into some sort of martial art, too. If martial arts were involved, Ranma was all about it.

"Me too. You wanna be friends? We can go out to the dojo and spar together if you'd like." She finished by flashing Ranma a cute little smile.

' _Friends_.' Ranma wasn't sure who these people were but from the looks of things, she might be here for a while. With a dojo, she could even practice whenever she wanted. If she was able to make a friend, especially one with the art in common, well, maybe it could help her get over all of this 'fiancee' business. It'd be the first time she'd had a real friend since... junior high? Had it been that long? ...and could she even consider him a friend, really? He was more like a rival...

"Ok," she softly replied, and together the girls made their way towards the dojo.

Akane talked a big game and Ranma was rather reserved, but when it came to the actual match, it was clear that Akane wasn't even close to the same level as Ranma. She danced past her every move, frustrating Akane as she wouldn't hit back once. Ranma just dodged and let Akane tire herself out, but then ended the supposed match by getting in behind her before she could even notice what was happening. Akane caved to the little poke at the back of her head, and with the impromptu match over, she let out a disappointed chuckle.

"You're better than I thought, Ranma. But I'm glad you can hold your own against me, at least. Not many people can do that, let alone dodge everything I throw at 'em."

"Yeah? Do you fight a lot?" Ranma queried. Compared to her own life experience, Akane seemed like little more than a beginner, but she'd never say something like that aloud. She'd just made her first new friend in years and was not about to sabotage it.

"Oh, you'll see, I'm sure. I'm just glad you're a girl, though!" Akane said cheerily as she wiped some sweat with a towel.

"E-eh?" Ranma squeaked, not sure how to reply.

"It's just that, if you were a boy like daddy thought, and you _beat_ me, I'd never live it down. I _hate_ boys! According to _some_ people, I'd even have to date you! Can you believe that?!"

"Heh, ah, yeah, that'd suck for sure. Good thing I'm not a boy, then..." Ranma trailed off, her eyes glossing over as she stared at the floor into nothingness, thinking about what Akane had just said. "Good thing," she whispered so faintly Akane could hardly hear it. ' _I should have known having a friend was too good to be true. She is going to hate me._ ' Ranma thought to herself.

Akane was concerned at Ranma's sudden shift in tone but when she asked the shorter girl what was wrong, Ranma just threw on an obviously fake smile, said nothing was wrong, and left to be alone for a minute with her thoughts. "Was it something I said?" Akane worried aloud to an empty dojo.

Not long after leaving Akane to think about how she was going to break the news to her without making Akane hate her guts, she was snapped out of her introverted trance by the third, and clearly eldest, daughter of the Tendo family. She introduced herself as Kasumi and with a little kind coaxing, she managed to talk Ranma into taking a bath after the workout where she hadn't done any actual working out.

After washing in mildly cold water, she turned her attention to the furo across the bathroom and stared at it with contempt, as if it were mocking her very existence. It had been a long, cold day. Running through the streets in the pouring rain and fighting the panda every step of the way had her feeling really exhausted and cold, and soaking in a nice warm tub seemed like the most enticing thing in the world... and yet it was tainted. Tainted by what she had been growing more and more annoyed by over the last few weeks, and tainted by the knowledge that getting into the tub could prove the official end to her hour-long friendship.

She weighed the pros and the cons in her head and after deciding it was best to end it sooner rather than later, she allowed herself ten minutes or so to relax in the tub. Realizing that Akane would learn her secret eventually, she decided it'd hurt less now to end a friendship before it began than to end it after it truly meant something, hurting everyone even more. Best to get it over with.

Just as Ranma was stepping out of the tub to face the music, Akane happened to appear in the doorway with nothing but a towel, stopping to stare at the unexpected sight of a toned boy and his very visible male anatomy staring right back at her in an equal state of shock. Slowly Akane put her robe on and closed the door behind her and taking a deep breath, she screamed bloody murder so the whole house could hear.

She ran downstairs, where the rest of the family was gathered and her father sat across from a strange man in a white gi and glasses, and informed the group that there was a pervert in the bathtub. Kasumi worried about what had happened to poor Ranma who should have been taking her bath, but just as Akane hoisted the living room table over her head to go deal the pervert some well-deserved justice (and as a consolation prize, save her friend in the process), the strange boy appeared before them, dressed as Ranma had in red silk Chinese clothing.

"H-hi. I'm..." he swallowed, composing himself, "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Akane's jaw dropped and the room was stunned with silence, until the strange man in the white gi cleared his throat and said he could explain everything. Over the next few minutes, this man, who revealed himself as Genma Saotome, took the Tendo family on a fanciful tale of magical cursed springs at a training ground in China, where he himself was cursed to turn into a panda and Ranma was cursed to take the form of a girl.

The explanation was hard to swallow for the group, to say the least, but with a little help from Kasumi, he had a kettle of hot water ready to prove the story was true.

Nabiki spoke up during this lull at the end of the story to voice everyone's disbelief by asking Ranma point-blank, "so you really _were_ that girl from earlier?" to which Ranma simply replied, "well, I _am_ that girl from earlier. Simple as that."

Genma, however, didn't like his son's cavalier attitude towards his female side and, with his penchant for the dramatic, decided to use it to further his demonstration of proof.

"Boy, don't play it off so casually! It's a curse!" he shouted, grabbing Ranma by the collar and pulling him into the air despite his struggling. "You sound like you LIKE being a girl!" With a flick of his wrist, Genma threw the boy one-handed across the yard and into the koi pond with a loud splash.

Seconds later, the crowd was met with the voice of a more familiar, more feminine Ranma, screaming back, "What'd you do THAT for?! So what if I like being a girl sometimes, what's it to you?!"

"Boy, you've been a girl far too often lately and it's time yo- GRAWRFF!"

Genma, now a panda, lay dripping after being cut off mid-sentence by a splash of cold water from Ranma and a bucket she found. A mild exchange of punches let out between the two and was only stopped when Soun took the tea kettle Kasumi prepared and poured some steaming water over the panda's head, instantly changing him back into a human, albeit with a scream over the temperature of the water. A temperature Ranma was quick to notice and swiftly dodge when it was her turn for a splash.

"Well, your situation doesn't seem so bad, son! At least you can talk, ha ha!" Soun said with a chuckle, grabbing Ranma by the shoulders and pulling her beside him. "I'd like you to formally meet my daughters. Kasumi, age 19; Nabiki, who's 17; and Akane, who's the same age as you my boy, 16. One of them shall be your fiancee, whichever one you choose."

"Fiancee? You're the guy pops was talkin' 'bout?! Nu uh, I am NOT getting married, especially not to some girl I don't even know!" Ranma fought back, but her cries seemed to be ignored.

Nabiki spoke up first, saying that Akane would probably be the best fit. "Akane, you hate boys, and this one's half girl. He's perfect for you."

Akane began to huff in protest but Kasumi chimed in, saying, "I have to agree Akane, he's way too young for me anyway. Besides, you already made friends with each other!"

"Friends? With THAT pervert?! You've gotta be kidding me! I could never be friends with that, that... FREAK!" Akane yelled, damn near loud enough for all of Nerima to hear. Plenty loud enough for Ranma to hear, at least.

She'd expected Akane to hate her after learning about her little problem, but to say she could never be friends with her at all? To think of her as a pervert and a freak? That... hurt, to say the least. She didn't have to be friends with her after learning about the curse, but to think of her in that way really seemed unnecessarily cruel. It was enough to make a weaker girl cry. Ranma fought best with her fists but this, this was just...

"Pervert?! You walked in on ME, sister! And you took a pretty damn good look before leaving!" Ranma barked, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Well it's ok for a girl to see a BOY naked!" Akane bit back.

"Well ain't that a double standard! I wouldn't even WANT to see YOU naked! If I wanted to see a girl naked, I'd just look in a mirror! I've seen _myself_ naked plenty of times!" Akane stood in shock at Ranma's rebuttal. Akane thought Ranma had just admitted to being a colossal pervert on a whole different level of perversion, and was naturally in shock from such an admission, but Ranma thought she had the upper hand and sussed Akane, so she made the mistake of doubling down when she'd already 'won' by adding, "...and I'm better built, to boot!"

That was the final straw. To be less attractive than a girl who wasn't even really a girl anyway? No way she'd let 'her' live after that. While Ranma stood cackling at her supposed victory, at the cost of her sense of shame that seemed to vanish in the heat of the argument, Akane struck with the table she wielded once before. Ranma was out cold, and all anyone could do was admit that she had it coming.

 **Edit** : I changed a line of Ranma's to better clarify her feelings on the subject of marriage because too many people were getting uppity about the specific language I used. Her denial of marriage is the same as canon, because she's too young for something like that and doesn't want to marry someone she's just met, not because she's not into girls or anything. She'll discover her sexuality naturally, don't worry.


	3. Ch2: Is It Really a Curse?

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the early reviews and follows, everyone. With this and the next few chaps, we're still in setup territory, but this is where I really start to deviate from canon to establish Ranma's new character traits that are essential for later on.

I was originally going to leave this with just the little bit at the start, leading into what is now chapter 3, but one review made me decide to elaborate and include this flashback scene earlier than I intended. I work graveyard and wrote this one very, very tired, so please excuse any oddness.

To address some reviews and other concerns readers may have out there, this isn't an Akane-bashing story. Just like canon, since this is a re-telling, it starts with a fight, and Ranma and Akane naturally fight later just as before, but this isn't a bash story. Very far from it. You'll see that soon, in chapter 3 or 4.

Likewise, Ranma's sexuality isn't declared. This is probably going to be a long project and I have plenty of time to tackle those issues when they arise naturally as I go through the source material. That said, what are your thoughts? SHOULD I bother shipping someone like that? If so, who? I'm partial to Ryoga.

Any other concerns people have with relationships or characterizations that anyone has, I ask: please be patient. All will be addressed in time. We're only getting started.

Sorry for the long author's note. I hope not to do these very often in the future, but I felt the need to address some early concerns people had. I've got this planned pretty far in advance, so please wait and see what happens before shouting foul.

With that all out of the way, thanks for reading, and enjoy!

" _Ranma, follow me! I won't go easy on you!"_

" _Wouldn't have it any other way, pop!"_

 _"No, sirs! Very bad if you fall in spring!"_

 _'A panda? How in the hell-?'_

" _Ahh!"_

 _'W-what happened? Why do I feel so... light? Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders for the very first time, and yet, something's... so different... Why does my chest feel so tight- wait, what the hell?! I'm a girl?!'_

" _What do you mean you can't read Chinese?!"_

Some time ago, in the rural landscape of the land beyond the sea, Ranma and his father Genma had ventured to a forbidden training ground with high hopes of improving their art, but they walked away different people. Or rather, one walked away a different person. The other wasn't a person at all.

Camping in the wilderness, only occasionally stopping in villages for supplies, the hot water necessary to revert their new forms became an annoyingly rare commodity. Even without rain, their regular sparring matches inevitably found them both transformed by the end of the day, like clockwork, as if water were seeking them out. If they boiled water to change in the middle of the day, by night they'd need to do it again.

Whether out of laziness or actual respect for the art, Genma finally made a suggestion to Ranma that they stop bothering unless they really wanted to change back. At least, while they were still on the Chinese leg of their ten-year training journey.

"A true martial artist uses everything to his advantage, especially his weaknesses. The sooner you learn how to move in your new body and train this newfound weakness, the sooner it won't be a weakness at all! What say you, boy? Will you lay everything on the line for the sake of the art?" he said in the most serious tone he could muster, having just boiled water to change back for the fourth time that day.

Ranma knew it was his duty as a martial artist to improve himself and face this new challenge head-on, but that didn't stop him from being a tad reluctant. "Pops, what about that whole 'man amongst men' thing you're always on about? How am I supposed to become a man amongst men if I'm going to be a girl?"

The past few weeks in his new body had put Ranma in a very strange mindspace. One he wasn't sure he should tell his father about, or anyone for that matter. When that first change happened; when she felt her new body for the first time, it felt... oddly calming. Once she got used to the added weight on her chest, it felt like home. Like she'd been this way her whole life.

Over time, she'd gotten to enjoy how light she felt and how nimbly she could dodge attacks in her girl form. Her brute strength took a slight hit but she more than made up for it in speed and, as any martial artist worth her salt knows, brute strength won't win you a fight. Strategy and timing will. And with the increased agility and new center of balance, she had a million new strategies to explore and master.

But at the end of the day, she always returned to being a he. At first it felt normal, like changing out of a uniform after a long day at school, but after a while, it became more and more annoying for altogether different reasons than his father felt annoyed. Each change was met with a broader, bulkier form that took up more space and was harder to move. The added weight on the chest was lost but with it came the weight of toned muscle elsewhere. Ranma's girl form was toned as well, but not nearly as bulky and thick, and after a while, the male form began feeling a bit clunky in comparison. And that's just the stuff Ranma didn't mind telling his dad.

The part he'd never mention was how with each change back, he became more and more aware of the added flesh in his pants and how discomforting it was. It felt strange, as if something was in the way, almost like a hindrance but not quite. Ranma had a hard time putting it to words, but whenever he changed into a girl, she felt like an incredible burden was lifted from her shoulders. At first she thought it was the physical weight as her literal shoulders shrank, but it didn't take long to realize that it was an emotional weight.

Before the curse, Ranma had met very few girls. His entire life, as far as he knew, was just him and his father roaming the countryside training, battling martial artists, and once in a while stopping to enroll in a school. Even then, it was an all-boys school. Men were all Ranma really knew and he was raised to be one thing: a man amongst men, to carry on his school's name with pride as the best martial artist in the world. A tall order, sure, but one he and his father happened to agree upon.

When he became a girl, that whole world shifted in an instant. Suddenly, her mind felt calmer. Her focus more determined. Her anger far more controllable. Best of all, she felt... whole. As a boy, he'd always felt a little strange when being around other guys, especially those his age, and he always had this nagging feeling that his body felt a little odd. When he was young and tried to articulate this discomfort to his father, to ask if it was normal, or if something were wrong with him, the response was that the feeling just meant he wasn't trained enough yet. When he was better at the art, his mind and body would be one. And that's what Ranma believed, until that fateful day in Jusenkyo.

That moment when he became a she, the first thing she really noticed was that nagging feeling had disappeared. She'd always felt it in the back of her mind, for as long as she could remember, and in an instant it was gone, as if it was never there in the first place. Somehow she felt normal, like this was how it was always supposed to be. She felt light as a feather, lightning quick, perfectly balanced, and just the right size to take down an opponent without any clumsy bulk holding her back. It was the most natural thing in the world, and the added comfort of that strange nagging feeling being gone made it seem like Jusenkyo had given her a gift rather than a curse.

But she knew that had to be strange. For a guy, especially one trained his whole life to be a man among men, to actually _like_ being a girl? That had to be crazy. How would people look at him knowing something like that? What if he ended up liking it so much, he wanted to stay a girl all the time? Would his father disown him for abandoning his dreams for him? At the very least, it would destroy his family's honor, and that did not sit well with him. He decided early on that he'd keep those feelings to himself, or at the very least, never admit to his father that being a girl seemed so... nice, in comparison.

So when Genma made that proposition at the campfire that night, it threw Ranma for a loop. His father's logic was sound, it WOULD serve to train up his girl side, and changing back was a bit of a hassle in rural China, but what about that family honor? Without letting on that he was actually looking forward to the strange proposal, he had to ask if that was OK for a future man-among-men to do.

Genma's answer was simply, "One must use every resource available to him in order to better the art. You won't be a girl forever, so it would be wise to use this time to improve your girl side so you're always ready to defend yourself. Hot water won't always be available."

Ranma nodded and looked away from his father and into the flames of their campfire, thinking very hard about what this could mean and how he could use this time to really get a feel for his new body. Not for a few hours at a time, but days at a time. Maybe even weeks. He was insanely curious to know what that'd be like; to know if it'd feel just as strangely comfortable as it had for those few hours on end every day.

"And don't worry, son!" Genma continued, thinking that Ranma was sulking at the prospect of having to lower himself to being a mere girl for a while, "I'm going to be right here training my new form right alongside you! Pandas can be fierce beasts, you know! They're bears, afterall!" he added with a slight chuckle to try and lighten the mood.

Ranma turned his eyes to him and with a smirk he retorted, "They're also incredibly lazy. You just don't want to bother slowing down every five minutes to boil some water, do you?"

"N-no, of course not! Ha, ha! Ha..." Genma bluffed, with his fake laugh not fooling either of them. "Wait, what was that!" he suddenly shouted, pointing off in the distance behind Ranma with a serious look about him.

"What is it, pops?!" Ranma span around, ready for danger, but couldn't see a thing in the moonlight of the open field that seemed to be amiss. When he turned back around, he found a panda munching on two fish at a time. Two fish that had been propped on sticks against the fire to cook. Two fish that were meant to be dinner, for BOTH of them, not just one greedy panda.

Another skirmish ensued but it didn't last long as in the ruckus, the kettle of warm water sitting on a rock around the fire had been kicked in, putting the fire out, and Ranma had found himself, now herself, knocked backwards over a bucket of cool water that had been meant to put the fire out later.

Genma panicked, trying to rub the wet firewood in vain to get a spark, but Ranma didn't see the point. She was wet, cold, and now left to go hungry for the night. And after a long day of sparring, she just didn't have the energy to continue.

"Forget it pops, you're not gonna get the fire going again," she said, getting herself up off the ground and moving towards their tent. "I'm gonna put some dry clothes on and get some sleep. What do ya say about tomorrow, we go back to Jusenkyo? We've just been wandering aimlessly, and that guide might know of a few more training grounds around here. Or maybe some dojos we can challenge. Who knows, he might even know about a cure for your clumsy panda butt."

The clumsy panda in question didn't abandon his fruitless cause to relight the fire but took a moment to turn to Ranma and nod in agreement to her plan, giving the best thumbs up a creature without thumbs could muster. With that, Ranma headed into the tent to change and rest her head. She had a lot to think about and would be surprised if she could get any sleep tonight at all. It was her first night sleeping as a girl, afterall.

Sure enough, that odd sense of comfort killed the anxiety of what being a girl for a few days or weeks might bring, and in less than an hour, she was off to sleep.


	4. Ch3: I hate men! But does he count?

**Author's Note:** I meant to include this with what will now be chapter 4, but where this ends seemed like a good place and I wanted to get another one uploaded pretty quickly here. This is mostly just going through the motions with more setup from the main series, but where it differs is in the conversations.

And from here on, there will be a lot more differentiation from canon. Enjoy!

"Hnng..." Ranma groaned, feeling the rush of the world running through her mind. One minute she was in China, no- _he_ was in China, with his father at the cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo, and the next they were fighting over her stolen dinner, and then... they were in Tokyo? ' _Right, I'm at the Tendo's place!_ ' Rejoining the world from her coma-induced trip down memory lane, Ranma popped her head up in an instant, becoming aware of her surroundings.

"Oh, she's awake!" Ranma jerked her head towards to sound of the voice to find it came from Kasumi, who sat next to Nabiki on the floor by her. The sudden movement caused a pulsing throb in the back of her head so powerful she couldn't help but wince and rub her wound.

' _Right, I ticked off Akane and she knocked me out...with a table, or a stone yard lantern? I don't quite- table. Definitely the table._ ' she thought to herself, remembering the source of the new bump on her head.

"Ranma, are you ok?" Kasumi called in concern after seeing Ranma buckle to the pain. She felt bad for Ranma's situation. To be thrust into a new place against her will, forced into a marriage, and then getting knocked out by her sister for simply defending herself... poor Ranma's had a rough day, and probably hates Akane now, too.

"Please don't think too badly of Akane, she's really such a sweet girl, she's just a violent maniac when someone gets on her nerves," Kasumi said with a smile, blissfully unaware that it wasn't really helping.

"Yeah, because THAT makes a lotta sense, Kasumi. Way to sell you sister short," Nabiki scoffed.

By now Ranma had managed to sit up, but the pain was still throbbing hard. ' _Don't think too badly of her, she says..._ ' Ranma thought to herself. ' _She walked in on me naked, insults me, hits me upside the head with a table, and I'm not supposed to think of her badly?_ '

"That's a pretty tall order, Kasumi. You heard what she said, she hates my guts. So much for being friends," Ranma spat. To think of her as a pervert or some kind of weirdo... "I don't think I want to be friends with someone who thinks of me like _that_."

"Akane will calm down," Nabiki assured her. "She's just upset that you're really a boy and a boy saw her naked."

"She really did walk in on _me_ though, I didn't do anything wrong. And she didn't have to call me names like that," she said with a slight pout that passed unnoticed by Kasumi but landed with the ever-aware Nabiki.

"I never said she was justified. But hey, you're the one who lost her temper and egged her on," she said with a shrug.

"So what, was I supposed to just stand there and let her insult me?"

"Ranma dear, I know your feelings are hurt here, but try to look at it from Akane's perspective, too. I'll have a talk with her, though. She can be pretty stubborn, but I think you two will be great friends!" Kasumi was trying to encourage Ranma best she could, but as far as Ranma was concerned, Akane may as well be a lost cause, just like the last few friends she tried to have.

"Not bloody likely," was all she could say to that.

"Ranma, you shouldn't curse, it's not very polite for a young lady," she chided.

"I'm a boy, remember? Or did forget exactly _why_ Akane hates me in the first place?"

"Oh, right! Sorry, Ranma. It's still not very polite, though," Kasumi said, sticking with that motherly tone of hers.

"Yeah, whatever," she said with disdain, getting to her feet and leaving Kasumi and Nabiki to themselves.

"...Did you really forget that Ranma's a boy, Kasumi? Be honest now," Nabiki queried, raising a brow in suspicion.

"Oh my, I suppose I did. Does it really matter, though? He's half girl."

Nabiki thought about it for a moment, remembering what Ranma had said before. She'd have to get used to thinking of both Ranmas as one in the same. "I guess it doesn't," she decided.

Ranma left for the hall and found herself lost on the second floor of the unfamiliar house. It wasn't any matter to her, though. She just wanted a little time to herself to think. Maybe relaxing in the furo would be a good way to sooth away this awful day. As she made her way slowly to the bathroom she hoped to find, she couldn't help but run over the conversation with Kasumi again in her mind.

' _Friends? Pah! 'She's such a sweet girl' she says. You call that reaction 'sweet'? I call that insane. I don't need her for a friend. She made her decision. I need to get back to China anyway, I don't have time for friends, let alone fiancees!_ '

It was a bold decision, but one she was hoping to stick by. There had to be a way to get to China, but for finding a cure? No, for answers. Someone had to be familiar with Jusenkyo curses. She'd asked her father on several occasions if being a panda made him feel... more like a panda, and while he'd always react with "Don't be ridiculous, son!", ten minutes later he'd turned into a panda and be sucking on a bamboo shoot or playing with a tire.

This confused poor Ranma even more. She had to know if these feelings she had were the curse, or her own. She feared the latter, and was even more confused as to what THAT answer would mean. It seemed to her that there had to be someone local in China who knew about the place and how the curses worked. If they could affect your personality or not. Dare she say, if they could affect your heart or not. If they couldn't, why did it affect her when she was a guy, too? China was the only conclusion she could come to. She'd figure out where to look once she got there.

' _I should leave first thing in the morning, but first, I've gotta get this icky pond water off of me and take a long relaxing soak in that furo. I won't get a chance to soak in a nice warm tub when I get back to China, and I've really got to clear my mind here._ '

Finally finding the elusive bathroom, Ranma began to disrobe, throwing her clothes in the hamper and grabbing a towel. Just as she reached for the door though, Akane appeared, having just finished a bath of her own. Ranma flinched, never once looking down at Akane's body, and tried to squeak out a 'sorry' but her words got choked up in her throat.

"You just can't leave well enough alone, can you?!" Akane practically yelled, slapping Ranma hard across the face. Ranma stood stunned in place, mind racing to comprehend what just happened, but before she could say anything, Akane was out the door and stalking hard down the hall.

It took her a moment to collect herself, but even knowing Akane was long gone, she yelled, "H-how was I supposed to know you were in here?! Give me a break!" through the closed door.

All she could do was shake her head and proceed into the bathroom proper. A long soak after such a terrible day would do her, now him, very good. A soak so long and relaxing, he nearly fell asleep in the tub.

–

The next morning, Ranma was met down in the living room by a series of comments from everyone around, except Soun who seemed to be watching the outcome.

"Where'd you get that bruise on your cheek, Ranma?" Kasumi asked with alarm at the sight of the glaring mark that was still there. "Can I get you some ice for it? Hold on, I'll go get you some ice."

"It's obviously Akane's handiwork, sis!" Nabiki called after Kasumi, who practically ran to the kitchen. Turning to a pouting Akane, she added, "Get it? ... _Handi_ work?" but got no response but a huff. "Tough crowd," she said, returning to her meal.

"Is that true, Ranma?" Genma asked as Ranma sat at the table, examining the food laid out for breakfast. All Ranma did was respond with a grunt and a slightly angry frown. "So she's got spunk! A little personality just makes a fiancee cuter, right Tendo?" he went on, turning to his friend for support.

Soun finally pulled himself away from the newspaper he was pretending to read to add, "Yes, yes of course, Saotome!"

" _'Cute'_ is NOT the word I'd use, pops. More like psychotic," Ranma seethed.

Ranma's comment seemed to bypass Akane entirely who, by the sound of Nabiki's voice, had just finished telling her sister what happened.

"So what? You were both girls at the time so what's it matter?" Nabiki asked with an annoyed tone. She wanted the fighting to be over as soon as possible, just like Ranma did. It cut into her leisure time at home.

"So what?! How would YOU react if he walked in on you, knowing he's really a guy? Girl or not?" Akane shot back with a scowl.

"Hmm... I usually wrap a towel around me before heading through the laundry room anyway, but I see your point. I wouldn't have hit him THAT hard, though. Maybe just charged him for the view," she said with a cheeky grin.

"N-Nabiki!" Akane blushed at the thought. Her sister, letting someone see her naked for cash?! Could she stoop so low?!

"Relax Akane, I'm kidding!" Nabiki said, waving it off to try and calm Akane down.

"Here Ranma, hold this against your cheek," Kasumi said, suddenly appearing with an ice pack and forcing it into Ranma's hand.

"Thanksh Kashumi." It was hard enough to talk with the swelling, but chewing a pickle slice made it a little harder.

"Ranma, my boy, now may be as good a time as any to ask, how do you feel about going to school here?" Genma asked, knowing full well which answer he'd make Ranma choose if he happened to choose the wrong one.

"School? Why? Shouldn't we be getting back to China to, y'know, find a cure for the curse?" Ranma was seriously confused by his father's lack of enthusiasm to their joint cause, but figured it probably had to do something with the arranged marriage.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be staying here a while, so you need to focus on your education. A martial artist needs to train his mind just as much as his body!" he said stoically, holding his fist in the air as if he gave a piece of wisdom down to his son. "...also, I already enrolled you. You're starting today."

"Wait, what?! I'm not ready for that! I haven't been to school in a while, there's no way they'd let me in so fast!" Ranma reached for excuses, but he knew they weren't going to work.

"Too late, Ranma-chan~. You're going to school with Akane and I. Don't be late!" Nabiki said, excusing herself from the table and grabbing her bag.

Akane nearly choked on her rice to call after Nabiki, "Wait, I'll go with you!"

Nabiki didn't even stop to call back with a slight laugh in her voice, "he's _your_ future husband, you should be the one to show him the way to school! See ya later!" And with that, she was out the door.

Akane and Ranma shared a look at the realization that she WOULD have to walk him to school, but it wasn't one of anger. Ranma's face said he caved to the inevitable and just wanted it to be over with already, and Akane's wasn't too far from that. If there was one thing they could silently agree upon, it's that neither of them wanted to do this, but they both had to bite the bullet.

Minutes later, they were both on their way down the narrow streets of Nerima, each trying desperately to ignore each other. That is, until Akane felt she had to get something off her chest and make things perfectly clear.

"We are _NOT_ getting married, you know!" she shouted without so much as looking at Ranma, who made a point of practicing his balance by walking atop the fence that lined the man-made river below.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Marriage is the last thing on my mind. And besides, I'd never marry a girl who treats people like _you_ do," he replied with a smart-ass tone.

"ExCUSE me?! And just how DO I treat people, pervert?!" she spun, finally facing him and ready to chuck her bookbag at him, but before she could, Genma suddenly appeared and conked Ranma on the back of his head.

" _Ow!_ What the hell, pop?!" Ranma cringed, rubbing the stinging bump on his head that hadn't even healed from last night.

"Ranma, you are in NO position to be picky about women! Listen up, because I'll only say this once-" but before he could finish, Ranma had snuck a kick in and sent his father into the river below.

"What's the matter, pop? Weren't you going to _say_ something? All I hear is a panda growling!" he laughed, but the laughter soon faded as Genma shot out of the river and laid in with several attacks. Ranma's cockiness got the better of him though, and he couldn't help but egg his father on even further.

"Besides pops, it's kinda hard to be picky about women when-"

 _*Splash!_ *

"...when you _are_ one?" Akane finished through half-lidded eyes. A nearly-blind old woman had been rinsing the path in front of her house with water when the Saotome skirmish ended up with Ranma right in the splash zone. The old lady didn't even seem to notice what happened.

"Heh, yeah, that's what I was gonna say," Ranma said with a slight chuckle, finding the humor in the situation. The humor seemed to be lost on Akane, though.

"Great, now you have to change back." She didn't seem too enthused by the fact that she might be late because of the annoying new house-guest.

"I guess I could, but I don't really have to. Doesn't bother me, either way."

"But you're a BOY! You're registered with the school as a boy, aren't you?"

"Don't care. Do they even have gender markers like that? My last school didn't..." Ranma thought aloud, trying to recall, but then remembered, "ah, but it was an all boys school so I guess it was implied."

Akane just facepalmed. "Aren't you embarrassed to go around as a girl? What if you introduce yourself as a girl and everybody finds out you're really a boy and hates you for tricking them?"

"I don't think most people are as judgemental as _you_ , Akane." Akane leered at Ranma, but she didn't have a response to the jab. "Besides, if I wanna be a girl or a guy, I can, any time I want. They're bound to discover the curse eventually anyway when swimming lessons start. It's best to get everything out in the open from the beginning. No lies, and no one gets hurt."

"But what about gym class?! You're not planning to change with the GIRLS, are you? If everyone thinks you're a girl on the first day, that's going to be one hell of a mess! Unless you really _are_ a huge pervert!"

Ranma groaned and rubbed her temples at Akane's pestering and finally caved. "I told you, I don't care about seeing girls naked. I _am_ a girl. Likewise, I don't care about seeing guys naked. But y'know what? If it'll stop your hounding, I'll go as a guy. I've got bigger things to worry about. I just want to go back to China, and if going to school as a guy makes you hate me less, that's one less thing to bother me."

Ranma crossed her arms, staring Akane down with her brow furrowed, waiting for a response but it never came. Maybe what she said had gotten through a little, or, more likely, Akane was just stewing in her anger. Ranma couldn't decide which, but knew what she had to do next. "I'm going back to the dojo to take a bath. I'll find the school later on my own."

Ranma began walking off back the direction they came, but Akane stopped her before she got too far. "You don't need a bath, you just need some hot water, right? The clinic's just around the corner here and it's on the way to school. We can get some water there!"

Ranma stopped and studied Akane's face for a moment, wondering if she was genuinely offering help or had some ulterior motive, but the suspicion quickly faded as she realized Akane just didn't want to be late for school. If anything, she was trying to make sure Ranma wasn't late for her first day either. She may be mean, but Ranma ultimately decided that Akane wasn't out to get her.

' _She doesn't have to like me, but it seems she's not holding a grudge, at least. That's a good sign,_ ' she thought to herself as she waited outside the clinic for Akane to fetch some water. For some reason, she didn't want Ranma going in with her, but she couldn't quite place why until-

" _AHH!_ " she screamed, jumping nearly foot in the air before turning back and taking a defensive stance. She relaxed a bit when she saw that the hand she felt suddenly creep up on her shoulder belonged to a medical skeleton, puppeteered by a man who must work at the clinic.

"Ah, sorry about that, miss! I didn't mean to frighten you so badly! Betty here just can't seem to control herself, heh," the man said, making Betty the skeleton rub the back of her head in shame.

The man was older than her, but youthful. Somewhere in his mid-twenties, she supposed. He had a kind look about him and wore glasses similar to her father's. "My name is Ono Tofu, and I run the neighborhood clinic here. Who might you be?"

' _He can't be... can he?_ ' she wondered before replying, "Ah, well, I'm Ran-"

" _Ranma!_ I got the hot water for you- oh, hello Doctor Tofu!" As soon as Akane rounded the corner and saw the doctor standing there, she stopped in her tracks to greet him with a bow, handing the kettle of water to Ranma without even looking at her.

Ranma watched carefully from around the corner as she changed back, taking notice in Akane's sudden attitude shift around the doctor. Her face seemed to brighten and flush, she avoided eye contact with the man, and if Ranma didn't know any better, he'd think Akane might actually have a crush on the guy.

Akane said her goodbyes to the doctor and together she and Ranma continued their journey towards the high school, but at a slightly quicker pace to make up for the lost time.

"So, that doctor back there..." Ranma cautiously started, curious how Akane would react. "He seems pretty nice."

Akane's cheeks tinged a bit but she managed to control it well. At least, she thought she did, but Ranma still noticed and shined a knowing smirk having confirmed his suspicions. "Y-yeah, he really is. He's been our doctor since I was little."

"Hmm, maybe he's a little older than I thought," Ranma pondered aloud before turning the subject to his real question. "He's a martial arts master, isn't he?"

The question caught Akane off guard. "Yes, he is, but how could you possibly know that?"

"The way he snuck up on me like that. He completely hid his presence from me, and I know what to be aware of. He's good." Ranma stated in a serious tone; a tone that showed respect with a mild hint of caution.

"He knows his stuff alright, but I haven't seen him do any training in a really long time. Not since he became the full-time doctor here, anyway. Maybe his life goals changed when he found what he really wanted to be?" Akane asked, more for herself than for Ranma. She was curious too, but hadn't really thought about it until Ranma brought it up.

Ranma took what she said another way, however. Doctor Tofu clearly still kept up on his training, even if it was simple morning katas or jogging to stay in shape. But, to change his life goals when he discovered what he really wanted to be? He didn't abandon the art in pursuit of it. Ranma wondered whether such a thing might happen to himself someday. He'd heard of people changing career paths to follow their dreams, but Ranma only ever had one goal in life, and it was given to him by his father. Was it even possible for it to change? If so, would he even want to change it?

"Hey, Ranma! I asked you a question! Were you even listening?" Akane huffed, continuing their jog towards the school.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something. What's up?"

"I asked you why you didn't find a cure for the curse while you were still in China. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier last week instead of trying to go back now?" Akane had a point, Ranma would have had an easier time while he was still there, but it wasn't that simple.

"Hmm, it's kinda complicated. Pops and I don't know Chinese at all. We had this guide from Jusenkyo translating for us as we traveled for a little while, but then something kinda happened and we've been on the run since," he explained.

"On the run? From what, another fiancee?" Akane asked, with a teasing tone in her voice.

"Oh, not nearly as bad!" Ranma laughed. It was good to know Akane had a sense of humor afterall. "It's a long story, but let's just say we didn't stick around in one place too long. After I got my first period, Pops made us rush for the coast and swim back to Japan. I think he freaked and wanted to marry me off as soon as possible," he continued as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"Woah, wait, WHAT?" Akane stopped in shock at the news. "Y-you've even had a period?!"

Unaware that anything was unusual about that, Ranma replied, " _That's_ what shocks you? Not that we swam all the way across the Sea of Japan? Twice, even?"

"How wouldn't it shock me?! It's not exactly normal for a BOY to have a p-period!" Her face was red even talking about the subject, let alone in public. Thank goodness nobody was around to hear her.

"Well it's not exactly normal for a boy to turn into a girl, either. Hot water's surprisingly hard to come by in rural China, especially when you can't make camp because you're always on the run," he shrugged.

Akane simply gaped. She couldn't believe how cavalier he was being about the whole thing.

"I stayed a girl for a long time after getting cursed, and it just kinda happened on its own," he said with a shrug. "When it happened, some kind old ladies in a nearby village helped me out and taught me about it in broken Japanese. It's natural, nothing to fret over. Just a part of life."

"A part of life YOU should never have to experience," she nearly shouted.

"Well, I do, ok? This is my life now, and that's just how it has to be. And to be honest with you Akane, I don't mind being a girl half the time. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. It actually feels kinda nice!" Ranma immediately regretted letting his temper get the better of him and acknowledge that fact to Akane, but now he had to stick by his guns.

"Well it SHOULD bother you! You're a guy! How does it feel nice compared to the body you were born in? Shouldn't it feel strange or something?"

' _Don't falter or she'll win. Own it! Don't let her hold this against you_ ,' Ranma mentally encouraged himself. "I don't know how to explain it, it just... feels normal, I guess. I'm used to it and I'm pretty comfortable with it. But don't tell Pops, alright? I'm not sure he'd take that lightly."

"And for good reason! You enjoy being a girl, afterall? Jeez, you really ARE a pervert, aren't you?" she said in disgust, turning towards the approaching school.

"H-hey! Stop calling me that! It's not like that at al- OOF!" he started, but was cut off by Akane's bookbag being thrown right into his gut the moment they approached the school. "What'd you do THAT for?!" he shouted, but Akane wasn't even looking towards him. Instead, she began running towards the school with determination all over her face.

"Ranma Saotome," she shouted back to an annoyed Ranma, who was running to keep up, "you are the absolute strangest man I've ever met, and _I_..." she trailed off, rushing through the school's gates where beyond lay an army of men rushing at her and screaming her name.

"... _DESPISE_..." she continued, proceeding to knock the wind out of her attackers one by one.

"... _MEN_!" she finished. In a matter of seconds, over thirty boys wearing all sorts of sports gear and wielding all sorts of makeshift weapons lay twitching on the ground, defeated.

Ranma was in complete shock at the scene. ' _I really underestimated her_ ,' he admitted to himself. ' _But I gotta get her to stop calling me a pervert somehow. Kill her with kindness? Be the bigger man? Maybe Still hurts, though_.'

"That was... pretty awesome, Akane. But why were they after you to begin with?" he said, pulling up beside her as she caught her breath. He didn't want to be too nice in tone after just being insulted once again, but that was a conversation he wanted to have later. The current matter of the unconscious students laying about the courtyard was something that couldn't be ignored.

"That... would be my doing."

Ranma looked ahead to see a taller, older boy stepping out from behind a tree, trying hard to look like he wasn't hiding and waiting for everyone else to be beaten. Rather than a uniform, he wore kendo practice gear and held a wooden bokken in one hand while sniffing a rose he held in the other.

"Evidently, each one of them intends to date with you, Akane. Truly such a boorish lot. On the dawn of the day that one defeats you and thus earns the right to date with you, you will find that _I_ shall be the one with the honor."

Throwing his rose to Akane and pulling his bokken to the ready, he finished his speech with, "Shall today be the day I finally conquer your heart?"

Any average girl who didn't know the guy might think him a hopeless romantic and even a tad charming, but the girls (and boys) watching from the windows and the sidelines all rolled their eyes at the boy's challenge. He may have looks, but they knew him far too well to know that he was nothing more than a showboating loudmouth.

Ranma assumed as much as well after seeing their reactions and the unamused expression on Akane's face. "Akane, does this happen every morning? With the guys there?"

Without turning to Ranma, Akane replied, "Yup."

"...and then when they're all done, this guy pops out to try and beat you after you're all worn out from fighting the others?"

"Yup."

"Hmm. Can't say I don't understand the tactic, but it seems pretty unfair to me," Ranma said, folding his hands behind his head and stretching a little. He didn't expect the older boy to hear him, though.

"What was that, knave?! And why are you being so casual with Akane Tendo? Speak, who are you!" the boy shouted, turning his bokken to Ranma.

"Who, me?" Ranma asked, surprised and pointing at himself.

"Yes, I demand to know who you are!" he shouted. The students watching all held their breath, curious who the new face was and even more curious that he wore Chinese clothes instead of the school's uniform. Nobody seemed to notice the swiftly approaching rainclouds overhead.

"Oh, well, I'm-" Ranma started, but he was quickly cut off by the boy, who shouted-

"AH! But is it not customary to first introduce oneself?" Ranma and Akane were a little stunned by the boy suddenly cutting him off, with Akane raising a brow in disbelief of the boy's odd behavior.

With the rumble of thunder, he began, "I am Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen, and leader of the Kendo Club. I am the rising star of the kendo world; the blue thunder of Furinkan High!" His cry cracked the sky as a well-timed lightning bolt flashed overhead.

Again, the students watching collectively groaned. "Have you ever heard that before?" one asked another. "Where did he get that nickname?"

"Probably gave it to himself," Nabiki said, joining the other gawkers. "Ranma, Akane, you'd better get in here now or you're going to be late!" she shouted.

"I, um, I'm staying at the Tendo Dojo for a while..." Ranma began, but once again he was cut off. This time by a swiftly dodged swing of the bokken.

"Under the same roof as the fair Akane?! How dare you!" Kuno shouted as he swung.

"I'm the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!" Ranma said, flinging his bag towards Akane to hold for him and striking a defensive stance with a cocky grin. "I'm Ranma Saotome, and I accept your challenge!"


	5. Ch4: With Squall Comes Strife

The general students of Furinkan High were used to a rather unusual display every morning. Like clockwork, minutes before the bell, a couple dozen guys would challenge Akane Tendo to a fight. They hoped to win a date but always won the taste of their own blood instead. The captain of the school's kendo club was always the last one to join in, and Akane always made quick work of him during his dramatic showboating. Day after day, same old same old. Move along, nothing to see here.

But on this random Spring day? There was finally a reason to pay attention again.

What set this day apart from the mundanity of the rest was that a boy dressed in Chinese silks had gotten in the way and stood up to Kuno. That's not something many people could walk away from aside from Akane, so the spectators flooded the school's windows and rounded the courtyard to see the fight.

They whispered amongst themselves about who the mysterious boy could be. His jet black hair was held back in a tight braid, concealing its length, and tied off with an old looking string. His black eyes had an almost smokey shine to them and shown with a sense of confidence and excitement. His well-conditioned body took a stance that left many with the impression that this guy wasn't one to fool around with. He clearly knew some self defense.

The boy in question didn't much like being on spotlight, but when it came to martial arts, he was confident in his skills and if it made a good impression, he might even make some friends. Or, at the very least, scare off any potential enemies. Well, any _new_ enemies, anyway.

The silent tension between Ranma and his opponent was fierce. They both studied one another; studied their forms and tried to judge weaknesses, strengths, and plan moves ahead; just waiting for the other to strike first. Kuno had technically struck first already, but Ranma taking a stance made him consider his next move carefully. This was no ordinary boy.

The silence was finally shattered by the crack of lightning from the dark sky overhead, snapping Kuno from his thoughts and making him finally speak.

"So you scoundrel, hounding the fair Akane Tendo, eh?" he accused, raising the bokken over his head. "I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall bring you to justice!"

The crowd wasn't sure if it was Kuno's cool and confident declaration of war that rumbled the ground, or the ever increasing volume of thunder.

"Seems to me like you're the one who's hounding her, Kuno!" Ranma shot back. "If anything, _you're_ the one who should be brought to justice! And you attacked _first_!"

"You've got THAT right!" one random gawker shouted, with cheers of agreement from some others.

"Besides Kuno-senpai, he's just staying with us, that's all!" Akane added, trying to defuse the situation.

The logic of a martial artist staying at a dojo, even one who trains under the same name as Akane's, completely went over the older boy's head. He was dead set on one thing: this stranger seemed to be defending the sweet damsel Akane!

"If there is nothing between you, why do you come to her aid? If you wish to date her, you must fight her! But you'll have to get through me FIRST!" he shouted, taking the plunge and slicing his wooden sword down with such force it sliced the brick wall behind Ranma, a feat that should have been impossible.

He wondered where his opponent had vanished to and turned his head just in time to see the rat bouncing off the side of the tree. Kuno struck in an instant, hoping to catch him before he bounced off, but was a split second too late. Ranma had landed along with the now-severed tree just in front of the kendoist.

"Now hold on a second, here!" Ranma shouted. Just as fast as he dodged the last slash, he'd run up to Kuno, past his defenses, and held his scrunched face mere centimeters from his own. "I am NOT defending Akane!"

' _Th-this guy is good!_ ' Kuno thought to himself, completely shaken by how the scoundrel had slipped his defenses so easily. He was there before Kuno could even blink.

"She has a right to date whoever she wants, just like anyone else!" Ranma shouted at the alarmed boy. "Why set this up in the first place? If you're interested, just ask her out like a normal guy! Unless you're afraid she'll turn you down," he ended with a smirk, sure that was the reason.

"I'll have you know that I _have_ tried that tactic and she refused! Four times in a row!" Kuno said, almost with pride at having shot his enemy's idea down.

Ranma gaped at Akane. "Can't say I blame you for that, but did you agree to this fighting nonsense? I'd hate it if someone did this to me."

Akane scowled at Ranma. "No, he just decided this after I turned him down too many times! I hate it too but I don't need someone like _you_ fighting my battles for me, Ranma!"

The venom in Akane's voice made Ranma flinch. ' _Someone like ME? What's that supposed to mean? After trying to be nice to you and even trying to help you with this moron, you still don't trust me?_ ' he thought with a scowl of his own and turned back to Kuno.

"If you want her, you can have her! If she's half as mean to you as she is to me, you're in for a good time!"

"You..! You...! _YOU PERVERT!_ " Akane shouted, for lack of a better insult, and tried to throw Ranma's book bag hard at the back of his head. It never made it though, as before it could, it was sliced in half in a blur of black wood and shredded paper.

"You coward!" Kuno shouted. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard! "You dare turn your back in the middle of a fight and then you speak ill of the fair maiden Akane?! I FORBID IT! DIE!" He arched his sword and lunged once again.

' _Oh, I am SO done with this moron!_ ' Ranma decided, jumping swiftly into the air above Kuno.

Kuno froze in shock as Ranma seemed to hang above him in a pose with two fingers extended, pointing right at his face. A flash of lightning appeared behind the boy, casting a haunting silhouette that made Kuno think for a moment that he'd awoken the rage of a demon.

The shock remained as Ranma struck his fingers straight into Kuno's forehead, but in that same moment, Kuno's blade had found its way to Ranma's neck.

Neither of them seemed to notice the torrential downpour that the last lightning bolt tore open above them.

The next thing to happen was one of the strangest the watching students had ever seen. For a moment, for a split second, it appeared as if Ranma had somehow gotten smaller, but before it could truly register in anyone's mind, a giant panda had run into the courtyard and knocked Kuno out by throwing him into the stump of the tree. At the same time, in that same swift movement, the panda picked Ranma over his shoulders and ran around the building. It all happened so fast, nobody knew what to really make of the scene, but one thing was for certain.

"Kuno was just knocked out! By a panda!" one boy said.

"Man, that panda's _good_!" another replied.

Nabiki just rolled her eyes and made her way to her seat, and Akane, instantly recognizing Ranma's father, ran off after them to find them locked inside an equipment storage building.

"Damn!" Ranma muttered, trying to shake some of the water out of her clothes. "I don't even know why I was in that fight! If it weren't for that rain though, I'd have taken care of that moron with one solid punch!"

"You sure about that?"

It took Akane all of two seconds to open the window and start climbing through, to Ranma's surprise.

"What do you mean?" Ranma scowled at the girl. She was questioning her decision about Akane having it out for her, and wasn't sure if she could trust what the girl had to say about the fight.

Akane simply pointed, with only a feigned interest. "Your throat."

Ranma pulled her collar down and ran her fingers delicately over the tender spot where Kuno's sword would have struck had it made a clean hit. There was definitely a bruise there, one she hadn't even noticed in the adrenaline of the moment but was now acutely aware of, pounding with a slight dull pain.

"Wow, and he didn't even touch me! That's some wind pressure, Kuno," Ranma mused, more to herself than her audience.

"If he had," Akane said, climbing down from her perch on the equipment stacked by the window, "you'd be breathing through a hole in your neck right now."

Ranma thought about it for a moment, wondering if a hit like that really could do so much damage, but just shook her head and dismissed the thought. What she was more concerned about was that Akane still had this attitude towards her. After talking all the way here and with Akane being somewhat cordial, she thought that maybe they were past this, but she thought wrong.

"Well, that doesn't really matter. What matters now is that the universe seems to be conspiring to have me go to school as a girl, don't you think?" That came out more like a threat than a light-hearted tease like she intended but it still hit the mark.

Akane was about to respond, probably with more reasons why Ranma shouldn't just do whatever she damn well pleased, but was stopped before she could start by the sight of Ranma getting splashed in the back from a kettle held by the panda behind her. No, behind _him_.

"Heh, guess not, Ranma. Thanks, Mr. Saotome!" Akane said with a laugh, getting pleasure from the disappointed look on Ranma's face. The panda simply bowed to Akane, as if to say 'you're welcome'. "So about Kuno," she continued, trying to turn the conversation back to less weird matters than a boy going to school as a girl, "with that bruise, don't you think it's an even match?"

Ranma turned his glare from his father to Akane and simply replied, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Just as Ranma was musing on the fight, a certain Tatewaki Kuno had just finished explaining his version of events to Nabiki Tendo, all while checking out his forehead in a mirror.

"Amazing," Nabiki quipped, astonished at the story. "And you don't even remember being touched?"

Somehow, in that final split second of the battle, Ranma had managed to use his extended fingers to write the word 'buffoon' on Kuno's forehead. However, Ranma seemed to have left an 'f' out.

"Heh, and at first I thought Saotome was _good_!" Kuno laughed. "But he can't even spell! Everyone knows it's spelled like... _this_!"

With the clack of chalk on slate, Kuno wrote his own version of the word, 'boofun', which Nabiki quickly contested with the proper spelling.

Kuno just leered at the shorter woman. "I detest you."

"I know Kuno-baby. Wouldn't have it any other way," she deadpanned.

Down the hall, in another room, it seemed like Ranma and Akane had finally made it to class. Ranma stood in front of the thirty-odd students, all questioning his odd clothing and murmuring about the fight just ten minutes prior, but being the focus of attention outside of a fight made Ranma nervous.

He never knew why, either. There was something about being examined for anything other than his skill that seemed to make him fidget with worry. Was something wrong? Was he hiding something that he was afraid to get out? Not really, he decided. Aside from the curse, he actually made a point to be honest. He wasn't clever enough to truly keep up with a lie for long, and he knew it. He knew on a logical level that they were just curious about the new student like any class would be, but the way they stared, though... he just couldn't shake that nagging feeling of discomfort. One that he seemed to be noticing more and more as of late.

"Go on, introduce yourself," the teacher said, pushing Ranma to get over his stage fright.

"I-I'm Ranma Saotome. It's nice to meet you all," he said with a slight bow.

"According to my notes, it seems you've been in China until recently. Is that so?" the teacher inquired.

"Yes, sir. I've been on a martial arts training trip with my father for ten years."

"Very interesting. That certainly explains this morning's events. Events, by the way, that made you and Miss Tendo tardy. Go stand in the hall."

' _He really doesn't mess around_ ,' he thought before he and Akane both said "Yes, sir" at the same time.

Standing in the hall holding buckets of water seemed like such an unusual punishment for students, Ranma thought. So the punishment is to build up muscle? It's done in a way that's likely to do more damage to muscle than good, but it's still interesting that that's viewed as a punishment by most schools. And to students like Ranma and Akane, who had plenty of strength already, the buckets were light as a feather.

"Totally pointless," Ranma muttered quietly to himself.

"What is? You fighting someone else's battles for them? Couldn't agree more." Akane didn't even bother to look at Ranma to spit out her bitter comment.

Ranma leered from the corner of his eyes. "I only got involved because he dragged me into it, I didn't do it for you. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to help you out while putting that moron in his place."

"I'm fully capable of defending myself, thank you very much," she replied with a hmph.

"Then why does he keep coming back every day?"

"Because he's an obsessed creep? I don't know! But it doesn't matter because I always win."

Ranma sighed. "Akane, I hate to tell you this, but usually when a guy fights a girl, he lets her win."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you fight me for real, Ranma? No holding back like you did in the dojo yesterday. I want a fair fight, to see who's really better!"

"Fine by me! Not that I'm any better as a guy, but what do you say I keep it fair by fighting as a girl?" Ranma said, raising a teasing brow and a bucket over his head, ready to go.

"R-Ranma, you can't do that here! Someone will see!" she panicked. "Dojo, after school. Girl on girl."

"You suuuure you don't wanna just settle this now? Is it because you're afraid you'll lose?" Ranma pestered the ever-increasingly-annoyed Akane, sloshing the bucket around over his head in temptation. Before she could bite back, someone else took the bait for her.

"Afraid to lose to the likes of you?! Never! I will never bow down to you, even if you ARE engaged to Akane Tendo! I won't allow it!" the voice bellowed down the hall. Ranma turned just in time to dodge a swipe from Tatewaki Kuno's wooden sword; one that rendered the bucket over Ranma's head in two. The resulting splash on the floor was narrowly avoided as well, as Ranma span around to take a defensive stance.

Before he could say anything though, the hall windows to the classroom shot open and a dozen and a half students began laying in comments and questions.

"Engaged? Already? Way to go Saotome!" one guy cheered.

"To be engaged so young though, is this for real?" another asked.

"But Akane, I thought you despised men!" one of her friends asked the blushing Tendo.

"I-it's not like that! Our fathers decided it!" Akane stammered out.

"And it's not going to happen if I have anything to say about it!" Kuno said, drawing Ranma's attention back towards him.

Ranma was in a panic, same as Akane. He was completely red in the face having had word get out of their arranged marriage. ' _Nabiki must have told him, she's the only other person who knows_ ,' Ranma determined, making a note to talk to her later about it. For now though, he had to get away from the pestering of the students, for both his sake and the school's.

"This is no place to fight, Kuno. Follow me!" Ranma demanded and took off down the hall, with Kuno obliging. He didn't miss the opportunity to try a few slashes towards Ranma's back though, but they all missed.

Despite his best efforts to get away from them, the students all followed, with Akane leading the pack. One teacher shouted 'No running in the halls!', and a few students apologized, but nobody slowed down their running to catch up.

Ranma, noticing the crowd, found the first window he could and decided to make a jump for it. "Kuno, this way!" he shouted, jumping through the hole.

"With pleasure!" Kuno shouted back, following in step.

Akane gasped. "You moron, this is the third floor!"

Ranma didn't care, though. Kuno had a look of fear upon noticing what he'd just done, but Ranma was confident that he knew how to land safely from such a height. But, then he glanced down and a sense of panic overtook him.

"Gee, lucky there's a pool there, huh?" one student gawked from the window.

"Oh no, Ranma you idiot!" Akane muttered, taking off from the crowd. She knew that even with their differences, the school couldn't find out about his curse. It'd be way too damaging to her own reputation, on top of being just plain weird. It was this embarrassment for Ranma that led Akane down the stairs to hunt down a kettle of hot water in preparation for the inevitable.

Ranma and Kuno landed with a loud splash, with Ranma gracefully diving through the surface and Kuno landing in a hard belly flop, knocking him out cold. The watching students wondered where Ranma had gotten off to, seeing only Kuno from up above, but that was because she was hiding below him, wondering how she was going to get out of this without being seen.

' _Gotta get away, fast!_ ' she thought, taking in her underwater surroundings and trying to form a plan of action. She turned in the water, looking up at the unconscious boy above her face-down in the water, and an idea formed in her head, as well as a tinge of sympathy in her heart.

' _You may be an idiot, but I couldn't live with myself if I let you drown_ ,' she thought. ' _Plus, you're going to help me get away_!'

Ranma climbed underneath the boy, dragging his limp arm around her shoulder and made her way towards the edge of the pool. She was sure to use her own head to prop his up and out of the water.

The act of kindness didn't last long though as Kuno awoke with a stir and a murderous intent in his face. " _Sa-o-to-mee!_ " he growled, using his position to pull Ranma into a tight bind and if all went well, snap the infernal cretin's neck, but as he maneuvered for the grab his hand landed squarely (and tightly) on her breast.

"W-what the-" Kuno started, but he was met with a very girlish scream and a huge fit of rage from the small girl he was holding.

" _Kyaaa~!_ Why, you..!" she growled back, and with a hard kick off the bottom of the pool, she launched both herself and Kuno up onto the pool's ledge, landing with Kuno's back to the ground and her body perched at a perfect vertical angle above him. "YOU PERVERT! DIE!" she screamed, kicking off of him hard enough that his head cracked the cement on the edge of the pool and left to hang loosely with his hair grazing the water.

Ranma, embarrassed beyond believe and now feeling thoroughly violated, ran off as fast as she could while fighting back tears. ' _He touched me, he freaking touched me! How dare he think he can just go and grab a girl like that! That perverted creep_!' she repeated over and over in her head as she ran.

Kuno, however, did not provide immediate chase. He was too confused about the turn of events. "Saotome and I fell into the pool..." he said aloud, as if it would help him better track what happened. "But then, in the pool, that was... a woman. Yes, that was definitely a woman. How did she get there? And more importantly..." he concluded, rising to his feet and clutching his bokken, "where did that cretin run off to?! FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN, YOU COWARD!" he shouted, running off in an aimless direction.

On the back end of the school's field, just before the fence that separated the field from a public park, Akane found herself wandering while carrying a warm kettle she borrowed from the janitor.

"I think I saw her run off this way," she quietly said, looking around for her reluctant fiancee. No sooner had she loosed the thought did she hear water pouring on the ground behind her, joined by the distinct sound of sniffling.

Akane span around to see Ranma up on a tree branch, wringing the water out of her silk pants. Her face was completely red and she seemed to be muttering something to herself, something that sounded like 'that bastard, I'll kill him!' over and over. Her eyes were red and shown with a watery glean, a look that Akane knew all too well. A look that made her heart go out for her rival, if only a little.

"Ranma...?" she cautiously approached, with concern in her voice. "Are... are you crying? What happened?"

"None of your damn business, just leave me alone!" Ranma shouted, her voice a little raw from the crying she didn't want to admit to, but couldn't deny. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"Theeen I guess you don't want _this_ , then," Akane replied, holding up the kettle.

Ranma just glared at her. "Just leave it there and go back to class."

"Why don't you change and come back with me?" Akane suggested. Her tone was as if she'd never argued or challenged Ranma in the first place. Seeing Ranma in that state of vulnerability made her feminine desire to console her override the desire to beat her to a bloody pulp.

"It doesn't matter, I'm never going back, not after- Not after he-" she choked, feeling the sensation of his grip on her chest all over again.

"Jeez Ranma, what did he do to you?" Akane asked quizzically but Ranma wasn't about to tell.

"I scared him off, the coward! He disappeared and left our fight unfinished!" Kuno said, approaching Akane at the base of the tree and seemingly unaware that Ranma sat on a branch several feet above.

"Here, catch! Change back while I distract him!" Akane shouted, but just as Ranma was about to protest, Akane threw the kettle straight up and Ranma felt she had no choice but to catch it. Doing so was no easy feat though, as she desperately clung to the branch with her legs to catch it without falling out of the tree. Akane span around to face Kuno and took a defensive stance that the kendoist knew all too well. "Kuno-senpai, fight me!"

"Ah, how the tables have turned! Now the fair Akane Tendo wishes to fight for a chance to date with me? I accept your challenge, but be warned! I will lose with all my might!" he declared, raising his bokken.

"You moron, who would ever wanna date YOU?!" Akane shouted, ducking under Kuno's pathetic swing and giving him a swift kick to the gut that sent him flying, flying... straight into the kettle held by Ranma, who had just regained her balance.

"You're... that woman, from before," Kuno realized as he looked deep into her smokey eyes.

"And _you_ have no right to speak to me!" she replied, dropping the damaged kettle and Kuno along with it hard into the ground.

"R-Ranma, you didn't change back!" Akane shouted in annoyance as Ranma hopped down from the tree, still without her wet pants.

"Like I even want to! I told you, it doesn't matter. I'm leaving!" she shouted back.

"I was trying to _help_ you, idiot!"

"I don't need your help! This wouldn't even have happened if you'd just let me go to school as a girl in the first place!"

"But why would you WANT to?! What kind of pervert are you?!"

"I am NOT a pervert!" Ranma nearly screamed. "HE is!" she added, pointing at the Kendoist who'd just gotten himself up from his fall.

He simply gave her an unimpressed glare. "That hurt, you know."

"Good," Ranma spat, crossing her arms and scowling at the boy, barely concealing her rage.

"If it is a fight you want, so be it. And if you win, I shall allow you to date with me!" he declared, this time towards Ranma, and began charging with his bokken.

"Are you insane?!" she cried before nimbly jumping on the boy's charging bokken, balancing with a level of skill that astonished both Akane and Kuno, before applying her knee swiftly to his face with all of her might.

The boy fell, out cold and with a huge red mark on his cheek that was already starting to swell, as Ranma stylishly flipped the bokken around and held it menacingly towards her other opponent.

"I don't know why you hate me so much, but we settle this now, Akane. Not after school, not at the dojo, right here and right now."

Akane was stunned, not only at the level of skill she just saw displayed, but that Ranma was seriously going to fight her. The realization in their difference in skill levels set in and sent chills down her spine. ' _There's no way I can win after seeing that. Ranma's in a league of her own, and she is *pissed*_ ,' Akane thought with a cold sweat.

"Well? You were so keen on fighting me before! Let's settle this!" Her determined expression of anger bore into Akane so hard it made her freeze up in fear. She was genuinely afraid for the first time in her life.

"R-Ranma, I..." she panicked. She knew now that she couldn't take her in a serious fight, but she also knew that Ranma was hurting over whatever it was Kuno did to her. This was not a healthy way to settle things, she realized. All of the day's events replayed in her mind and one trend seemed to stick out, one she was immediately embarrassed about: her own immaturity and constant pressure led to this powder keg exploding. She did this.

"I'm sorry, Ranma." Akane lowered her head in a bow, stunning the pig-tailed girl.

"You're _sorry_? After all of that, you're sorry! Not two minutes ago, you were calling me a pervert! What's your deal, Akane? What's your big problem with me? I am NOT going to marry you so you have nothing to worry about, and as for the curse? I happen to LIKE who I am, ok?"

Akane paused at that statement, turning her head up from her bowed position to give Ranma a quizzical look.

"Did you ever think of that? It's not in some perverted way either, it's just who I am, and I'm sick of you telling me that that's wrong. You act like my very existence is perverted!"

Akane's eye twitched, but she managed to control her anger. Or so she thought. Through clenched teeth she said, "I'm. Sorry. If you're fine with being a girl, go ahead and come to school as a girl, see if I care! It's you who will be embarrassed and ashamed when everyone thinks you're a freak, not me!" Noting Ranma's flinch at the word, she finished, "and I am DEFINITELY not marrying some half-girl!"

"Then that's that. Have a good life, Tendo-san." Ranma replied, shouldering the bokken and turning to walk away.

' _Oh no, what have I done now? I just made it worse_!' Akane silently chided herself. "Ranma, wait! Where are you going?"

"Back to China, where else?" she replied, looking back with half-lidded eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Please, I'm sorry ok? Just... come back to class and we can talk about this later," Akane pleaded.

Ranma just sighed and walked back over to face her. "That moron destroyed the kettle you brought when he landed on it. You wanna go fetch some more water? I have to go as a boy or else I'll be 'ashamed', right?"

Akane, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible so as not to incite further rage, responded, "Well, you've already introduced yourself as a boy, so wouldn't it be weird when people find out you're a girl too? Aren't you afraid how they might react?"

"If it's bullying you're worried about, don't bother. I can more than stand up for myself. I already told you, I really don't care. You're right though, it would be easier to just keep it a secret, but it'll always come out eventually and when it does, even if they react only _half_ as bad as you did, I'll lose any shot at friends I might have anyway."

Akane was stunned and a little bit hurt by the tone in the shorter girl's voice. She hung her head in shame, realizing that she didn't care at all about how Ranma felt with her situation so long as it didn't embarrass herself. She'd definitely gone a little too far. It was her that proposed that they be friends but since finding out about the curse, she's done nothing but hurt Ranma. And now she felt the weight of that guilt with every sad word Ranma said.

"I know from experience, it's going to happen eventually. Might as well get it over with before I make any real attachments, right? First chance I get, I'm going back to China anyway, so friends don't really matter. None of it matters. I'm leaving."

She turned, trying to walk off again, but was stopped in her tracks when she heard Akane call after her, "I'm sorry I ruined our chance at being friends!"

"Sorry, what?" she asked, a little confused as to where Akane was going with this.

"Ranma, you don't need to be so... bleak about things. When I saw you were really a boy, I lost it. After I told you how bad it'd be to be beaten by a boy, then the marriage thing our dads came up with, and when you saw me naked..."

"you saw _me_ naked, but continue," she chimed in, crossing her arms at the apology she was sure was half-assed.

"Why, you-" she started, but then caught herself. ' _No, don't get mad. Do this right_.'

"After all that, I felt a bit betrayed by you. I know it's silly, especially after all we talked about today, but I felt like you lied to me, even though I can see now that you technically didn't. I'm sorry that I overreacted to the fight with Kuno as well, I know that you didn't get involved for my sake."

She finished with another formal bow. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Akane..." Ranma said quietly, feeling her eyes water up again. "It feels really nice to hear you say that, Akane. I felt the same way, that the first friend I'd made in years had suddenly betrayed me just because of what I am. And calling me names really added to the hurt of that. I'm sorry I lashed out at you, too."

Ranma returned the bow, and tried to wipe her eye on her wrist cuff without Akane noticing, but she did anyway.

"Maybe we should start over. Friends?" Akane said, holding out her hand. Ranma eyed it warily and studied it for a moment before accepting and returning her own in a shake.

"Maybe, sure. But definitely NOT fiancee's."

"Got that right. There's no way I could ever marry a 'pervert' like you," Akane chuckled with a wink, hoping Ranma knew it was in jest.

"H-hey! Stop calling me that, seriously!" Ranma flustered. "It's not funny, Akane!"

Akane stuck her tongue out and pulled down her eyelid in a playful tease. Ranma smirked, knowing she was just playing around, but she still had to find a way to convince her to stop saying that.

"Get back here, Akane!" she yelled, calling after the girl who'd ran off ahead.

Ranma didn't know what was really in store for their 'friendship' to come, but she was cautiously optimistic that everything would work out fine. Even after such a rocky start, the two managed to learn to understand each other, if only a little, and that could be the foundation for a great friendship to come.

Or not, if Akane didn't stop calling her a pervert.

–

Author's Note: This one took me a few days because repeating unchanged events from canon can feel like a slog on the writer's end. It's no wonder so many of these 'retelling' projects go abandoned. But hey, here we have it, the 'end' of the introduction. Akane and Ranma had their differences settled in a way, and hopefully we can move forward from here.

In canon, there's still a ton of strife between them, but now that this is over with, I can handle those moments in a different light. Specifically, the next storyline. I hope you all like the angle I have planned for their relationship, as I feel that in character, it could have turned out this way if they'd just settled their differences early on. You'll just have to wait to see what I mean by that.

Thanks to all the reviews and follows, and for the conversations that have led to some little elements here and there. I'm going to start another project soon, so hopefully some of you will look forward to that, too. See ya next time!


	6. Ch4point5: Midnight Confessions

That night, the very same night after Ranma and Akane had cut class after their big fight, Ranma found himself in the dojo with his father. They sat upside down, legs crossed in the air and hands supporting them as they concentrated on standing on their heads. A strange sight to see for sure, but an average meditation pose for the Saotome family. Their mediation went on in silence until Genma cleared his throat to address something that had been on his mind all afternoon.

"So boy, I hear things didn't go so well on your first day of school. Why did you get in a fight with Akane and ditch school?" he asked, not in an aggressive tone, but one of genuine curiosity and hope that he could help solve the problems between the kids. As usual, his primary concern was uniting the schools.

Ranma had to think about his response before replying. He didn't want to tell his dad the subject matter of their fight or else he'd get the harshest training of his life to try and push out the 'girl' in him. "She's been attacking me non-stop since we met and it finally blew up when I couldn't take it anymore." At least it wasn't exactly a lie. "We kinda worked it out, though."

"Well that's good to hear, son! From what I heard, she actually tried to help you after a confrontation with that idiot in front of the school. You should go and thank her before bed," he suggested.

Ranma figured he had a point. Even if it was for a selfish reason, Akane *did* try to help. She even tried to distract Kuno.

"I don't think a thanks is really necessary, but I guess I could go and have a talk with her," he decided.

"Glad we're on the same page," his father responded before ruining the moment with his stupidity. "Fiancees should do whatever it takes to solve their problems and enjoy a happy life together! Getting along and being friends is the basis of a strong and healthy marriage!" he guffawed.

"...didn't you kidnap your toddler son and abandon your wife to make him the strongest martial artist ever?" Ranma said through half-lidded eyes. "How's that working out for your strong and healthy marriage?"

Genma panicked and looked around the room; at anything but Ranma. "I, uh, well, y'see, it's a bit more complicated than that..."

Ranma wasn't taking it lightly. He pushed off the floor in a hop and span around to sneer at his old man, bent over with his hands on his hips and everything. "Don't you have any guilt about that? I don't even know my mother's name, let alone if she's even alive! Why won't you tell me anything about her?"

Genma was caught and didn't know how to respond. He certainly couldn't tell his son the truth, not with him being a girl half the time. The only thing he could think of was to use the Saotome School Secret Technique: "Look, a hundred yen coin!" Genma shouted, pointing behind his son.

Ranma knew it was a trick but still instinctively glanced back anyway, giving Genma enough time to turn into a panda with a fire bucket kept nearby. When Ranma looked back, a panda was nonchalantly playing with a tire as if it was the only thing in the world.

"Stupid panda," Ranma scoffed as he turned to walk away. ' _May as well go find Akane_ ,' he thought to himself.

When he approached her bedroom and prepared to knock, he hesitated because he could hear voices coming from the other side of the door. Normally he would walk away and let them have their private conversation, but he heard his name pop up and had to stay and listen. He hoped he might find out what Akane really thinks about him, even if it meant invading her privacy just a little.

"...so I saw her slam her knee into Kuno's head and it just clicked that she really is way out of my league, and I realized I'd been antagonizing her pretty much non-stop since I found out she was a boy. I got really scared there," he heard Akane say.

The next voice came from Nabiki. "Well he HAS been training in Anything Goes basically his entire life. His dad may be a stupid oaf but the guy's practically a martial arts master. Makes sense that Ranma would be top-tier. You made the right call by apologizing instead of fighting."

"Mhmm," Akane agreed. "After seeing how bloody Kuno was, I can only imagine what Ranma would do to me without holding back. There was already so much blood..." she trailed off, letting the image linger in her mind for a moment.

"So what exactly were you fighting about anyway? It doesn't make a ton of sense to me," Nabiki probed, breaking the silence.

"It was dumb. Since Ranma's really a boy, I was embarrassed at the idea of the school finding out I associate with some gender-bending pervert, and Ranma kept saying that despite being a boy, he's a girl too and doesn't mind if anyone knows. He even told me he's had a period before, can you believe that?"

Ranma flushed with embarrassment from his spot sitting against the door. ' _I really shouldn't have told her that_ ,' he chided himself.

Nabiki seemed surprised, but not put off by it. "Huh, so when he says he's a girl too, he really means it. I guess that answers the question of just how complete the transformation is."

"Yeah," Akane continued. "He may not have grown up as a girl, but he's experienced things as a girl that the rest of us have. Stuff a boy should never have to deal with. I guess it just took me a while to realize that."

"It does make me wonder, though..." Nabiki began. "How does changing sex alter someone's mind? Does your perspective on life change to that of a girl, or does it stay the same? If I were to magically become a boy, would I become a colossal pervert?"

"You already _are_ a colossal pervert, Nabiki," Akane deadpanned.

"Oh please, I'm not perverted, I'm just confident in myself! It just makes me wonder what gender Ranma _thinks_ he is. With the line being so blurred, he's probably very confused." Nabiki paused for a moment before muttering quietly to herself, "If I was living as a guy half the time, would I start to think I'm a guy too? I mean, I know I'm a girl and I don't know how anything could possibly make me think otherwise, but Ranma's got me thinking about it a lot now."

"You'd think it would be obvious: he was born a boy, he should _be_ a boy. But hearing him vent, he's not confused at all. If anything, he's proud to be a girl half the time. Did you know he even wanted to come to school as a girl? A boy, wanting to play the schoolgirl! It's insane! He's definitely not confused. He sounds like he _wants_ to be a girl. If it weren't for his dad, he might even be a girl all the time."

" _Reeeeally_ now? That's... interesting." Nabiki's mind was racing a mile a minute with this information, thinking of a million ways Ranma's gender-bending ways could be exploited. The pictures a cutie like Ran-chan in a schoolgirl outfit would produce could make her quite a rich woman indeed. Especially if Ranma went to school that way. "Maybe we should let him. See how it turns out."

"Let him?! He'll just embarrass me! How would the other girls react, huh? What about gym class, where would he change?" Akane flustered at the proposition.

"Hey, calm down. It was just a thought. For all we know, it might make him happy. _Her_ happy. What do we even call Ranma?"

"Just stick with whatever's appropriate for the form he's currently in, that's what I decided to do. That way if anyone overhears, there's nothing strange or awkward about it," Akane sighed.

"Hmm, good idea. On another note, do you think he's ever, y'know, _explored_ himself as a girl? I know if I suddenly grew a di-" Nabiki began, but was stopped when Ranma chose that moment to finally knock. He wasn't about to hear where she was going with that.

"Looks like that's my queue to leave," Nabiki said with a smirk towards the blushing Akane before she headed for the door. "Oh, Ranma-chan! We were just talking about you!"

Ranma couldn't make eye contact with Nabiki after hearing that last bit and simply stuttered out, "I-I just wanted t-to talk to Akane for a minute."

"She's all yours. Don't forget to hang a sock on the doorknob, kids~!" she laughed as she walked off, leaving two beet-red teens alone in the bedroom.

"S-so what is it, Ranma?" Akane blurted out, closing the door and sitting back down at her desk.

Ranma sat down on the edge of her bed and folded his hands in his lap, unsure of where to begin after such an awkward moment. "I, well, I was talkin' to my dad and he thought I should come thank you for trying to help me earlier, even though we fought. So, thanks."

"There's no need to thank me. You know I was only trying to help because it would keep me from being embarrassed by your change. I'm ashamed of how selfish I was being now, but that doesn't change that it _was_ for selfish reasons. For that, I'm sorry," Akane said with a sigh, still unable to make eye contact with Ranma.

"It's ok, I guess I understand. I just... I've never really known any girls, and since getting cursed, I haven't been to school at all. I guess part of me was thinking that I could somehow start over as a new person this time. Really be myself this time and not the macho jock my dad's trying to make me. It'd be nice to have a different angle on life for once, y'know? Something... normal."

Akane thought about this confession for a minute. Did she really hinder Ranma's chance at happiness here? "If you wanna go as a girl, I guess there's nothing stopping you, but now you have to deal with people knowing about the curse and you could be ostracized for it. I know the girls wouldn't like having you in the locker rooms, for sure."

"Yeah, it was kind of a dumb idea I suppose. I don't mind people knowing, and I really wouldn't mind going as a girl, but after that whole Kuno business today," he shuddered, "I don't think I want to be a girl around him ever again."

"What exactly did he do to make you so upset today? Seriously, tell me," Akane asked with what Ranma thought sounded like genuine concern.

Ranma flushed again and with a scowl, he nearly whispered out, "he... he groped me. In the pool. I've never been touched like that before and I flipped. I'm surprised I didn't kill him."

"As a girl? That creep, he would even go so far as to molest a girl he's just met? Now _I_ don't wanna be around him, either!" she shivered, clutching her arms. "Being a girl isn't all sunshine and roses, Ranma. These things happen. They suck, but they happen. And it's scary. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Thanks, I guess. But now you know why I was so upset."

"Yeah, I'd be furious too," she replied.

"And by the way, I'm sorry for walking in on you that second time in the furo yesterday. The first time was your fault, but I should have knocked the second time. It really was an accident," Ranma added, hoping to change the subject a bit and clear the air there, too.

Akane sighed again before replying, "I'm sorry too. It was an accident for me, too. Afterall, I never in my entire life would have expected the girl in the bath to turn into a boy!" she chuckled lightly.

Ranma did too, seeing the humor in the situation, but that response had him curious. "So, even though you knew someone was in the bath, you still didn't knock?"

Akane was a bit surprised by this. "Um, no? Girls bathe together all the time. It's alright for a girl to see a girl naked, afterall. Don't you bathe with your father?"

"Well yeah, or rather, we used to," Ranma thought. "But I guess I just never realized girls bathed together too."

"You really haven't met any girls before, have you?" Akane asked.

"Not really. You're probably the second or third that I've ever been around for more than five minutes. And the first, well... she was trying to kill me so I don't think that counts."

Akane was stunned. How could someone go his whole life without any women in it? "What about in school?"

"I always went to boys' schools," he shrugged.

"...No childhood friends?"

Ranma had to think on that for a moment. "I only really had two. There was this one guy, Ukyo, when I was little. He had such a cute face that I bet he grew up to be quite the lady's man," Ranma mused, more to himself than Akane. Akane didn't want to point out the strange use of language there. "And the other one, well, he was more a rival than anything, though I did walk him home a few times."

"No girls whatsoever? That's crazy. And yet you're comfortable being a girl when you know almost nothing about them."

"It's just how I am I guess," he said with another shrug.

"I think you should spend more time around women, Ranma. Especially ones your age. I'm afraid to know what your dad's taught you about women so it's best you learn from the source before you end up as bad as him."

Ranma thought about it for a moment but found that he agreed with the sentiment. "I guess you're right. Couldn't hurt, at least. My dad always said that women were weak and fragile, and yet since I've become one, every one I've met has been anything but. Well, maybe Kasumi is, but she's not afraid to chide me when I swear."

"Believe me, Ranma. You do NOT want to get on Kasumi's bad side. She's sweet and innocent on the surface but once you cross her, it's all over."

"...I'll keep that in mind," Ranma said as he yawned with a stretch. "I think it's about time I get to bed. I'll see you tomorrow. And thanks again, for finally coming around. I'd much rather have you as a friend than an enemy," he said with a smile.

A smile Akane returned. "Me too, and thank _you_ for checking my ego. I really needed that."

"Any time," he laughed as he went to the door. "G'night, Akane."

"Good night, Ranma."

–

 **Author's Note:** I'm not dead, just dead busy. In the time since I began this project, I've been homeless, moved twice, burned through three vehicles, started another very demanding job, met a guy, and got engaged. It's been a wild ride these past two years. I have the next chapter mostly done, and it has been since about this time in 2016, so I'm trying to ease back into this so I can get that posted. I also have a LOT of chapters and chapter skeletons written out for chapters that take place way later in the timeline, so I unfortunately have to fill the gaps in between first. I'm trying, slowly but surely. I hope you all enjoy this little filler exposition chapter, taking place in between the last chapter and the next. This scene is in the manga, though very different, and I originally wasn't going to include it at all, but then I thought that a sweet little character-builder would be nice to throw in. I've also gone through all of the existing chapters and done minor edits. Fixed typos, re-wrote the occasional sentence, nothing big.

Thanks for reading!


	7. Ch5: The Tree-Borne Kettle Girl

Tatekwaki Kuno is what some would call a strange young man.

He's eccentric, speaks very formally, and acts like he's a simple samurai on a quest for love. But as a simple samurai, he also carries along with him a code of honor. Honor that was slung through the mud the moment he was so easily defeated by a girl wearing only a silken red Chinese top. To add insult to injury, the boy who tried stealing the love of his life, Akane Tendo, ran off during a match like a coward without so much as a trace. Both insults needed to be addressed in turn.

First up was the issue of the tree-borne kettle girl. And who better to ask than the woman who knew everything about everyone in town: Nabiki Tendo. Kuno was equal parts thankful and wary that the girl happened to sit next to him in class.

"The girl with the pigtail and the Chinese clothes? Yeah, I know her," she casually replied when asked.

"Nabiki Tendo..." quoth Kuno, "Can this be true?!" He bolted to his desk as fast as he could to pen a letter for Nabiki to deliver. He scrawled frantically away, his face awash in giddy determination. "If she thinks she can defeat Upperclassman Kuno and simply walk away, she thinks wrong!" He was finally going to give her what she deserved for her actions.

Later that day, on the back porch of the Tendo home, the girl in question was currently a boy and sitting by himself, thinking about the day's events. Compared to his first day of school, the second was surprisingly dull. Classes went as expected, and both he and Akane had to fend off rumors of the engagement from curious students who just wanted to gossip. The questions had died down a bit once two boys butted their way into another one of Ranma's flustered denials.

"Alright, alright, leave him alone already," the taller of the two boys said. The small group of students, mostly made up of girls, scowled at the boys before doing as they were told, leaving them to introduce themselves to the disgruntled martial artist.

"Yo, it's Ranma, right? I'm Hiroshi and this here's Daisuke," the taller boy continued.

"'Sup," Daisuke added.

"Hey. Nice to meet you, I guess," Ranma replied. Something about these two kind of rubbed him the wrong way but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They didn't carry themselves like martial artists, so that couldn't be it... but what was that nagging suspicion that something was off about them?

"Likewise. Now, uh, we don't want to intrude or anything, but... what's the deal with you and Akane?" he asked, leaning in slyly like it was a big secret he was going to help hide.

Daisuke pulled up along Ranma's other side and did the same thing. "Are the rumors true? We just wanna know from the source."

"You two are no better than the rest of them!" Ranma nearly shouted. "Our dads decided it, ok? But it doesn't matter what they say, we are NOT getting married."

"But it's true that you're living under the same roof, right?" Daisuke teased. Ranma, who'd never been that good at lying, locked up in embarrassment and reluctantly agreed that yes, it was true. He'd always forget white lies and have them blow up in his face, so he made a note to be as honest as possible with people. He didn't like where this line of questioning was headed, though.

Hiroshi, the brave soul he was, bit right into it. "Have you ever... y'know... Seen anything good? Accidentally walked in on her in the bath or something like that?"

"Umm..." Ranma blushed and looked away, remembering the night before last in full detail.

Daisuke kept on the pressure. "Are those things real or does she stuff her bra? C'mon man, give us the details. Just between us guys."

That's it. That's when it clicked. That's what's been rubbing Ranma the wrong way. Ranma realized that these two guys were Class-A perverts. The same kind of jerks who'd ogle her in girl mode whenever she went out into town. The same kind of jerks that the Saotome girl would kick the ever loving snot out of if they approached her with strange requests like 'dates' or 'love hotels' and the like.

Ranma shook his head and tried to shake the bad memories away before telling the perverts to piss off and let him finish his lunch alone.

Ranma sat on the porch seething at the memories and what those two jerks might ask him tomorrow. Should he just beat them up? No, there's not really any honor in using force like that. But, it would be in defense of women everywhere, so would it be ok then? Hmm...

"Maybe I'll just wait," he mumbled to himself quietly. "Try to be cordial, but if I ever see them doing something bad to a girl, or if they dare to try any of that funny business with _me_ , I'll pound some sense into- _HEY_!"

He, now a she, was cut off by a sudden splash of cold water from behind. She whipped around in the afternoon light and faced her sneaky attacker only to find Akane standing there holding a now-empty bucket and staring intently at her.

"What'd you do that for? And what's with the starin'?" Ranma still wasn't quite sure if she could trust this Tendo girl, but wasn't afraid to stand up for herself if the moment came.

Akane approached, lost in her own world and still staring at some random spot on Ranma's head, but had no fighting aura to speak of. Ranma dropped her guard, but was still very confused. "Is there something on my head...?"

"I _thought_ so!" Akane finally chirped up.

"What? What is it? What's on me?!" Ranma danced around, trying to find the imaginary spider that might have been crawling on her. It was the only logical conclusion she could come to.

"Ranma, have you ever noticed that your hair is somewhat lighter when you're a girl?" Akane asked, staring intently at the braided locks on Ranma's head.

"Uhh... no?" she answered quizzically. "I haven't spent much time in front of a mirror. Thought it was just black like normal."

"Well yeah, it is, but when you look at it in the sunlight _juuuust_ right, it has this almost auburn hue to it. I can barely see it but it's definitely there... Are you a haffu?"

"Yeah, I'm half boy," she replied, folding her arms with a smirk and deadpan eyes.

"Hardy har. You know what I mean. I know your dad's supposed to be from a long line of Japanese warriors or whatever, but is your mom European or something? American? Maybe she's the haffu and that's why it doesn't really show..."

"Dunno, never met her," she shrugged. Akane just stared at her blankly for a moment before her features softened and she got a sad, pitying look in her eyes. A look Ranma didn't much care for. "What's wrong with that?" she challenged.

"You don't know your own mother? Did your dad ever tell you what happened to her? Where she lives or even if she's... still alive?" Akane cautiously probed. This odd concern for her made Ranma feel just a tad uncomfortable, especially considering the rocky start to their relationship.

"Not a clue. All I know is that I don't have a mother. As far back as I can remember, it's just been me and pops. Heck, prior to coming here I've barely been around women at all."

"Oh, I'm _well_ aware..." Akane mused under her breath.

"What was that?" Ranma accused.

"Hmm? Nothing, nothing. Have you ever thought to look her up? To see if you can find her?"

Ranma stared at the grass rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, once, when we were in Japan the last time, but I don't even know her name. Every time I've asked pops about it, he just dodges the question somehow. I have no idea if she's even Japanese, let alone alive. All I know is that pops took me away to train when I was very little."

Finally saying these things aloud made them far too real for her. Here she was, back in Japan and settled enough to start looking again, but she had no idea where to begin or how she'd react to the curse. Even acknowledging the possibility of having a mother made her realize that she must have missed out on an important part of her childhood. What would having a mother bring to her life that's currently missing? She didn't even have context to compare it to.

' _Stupid panda..._ '

Ranma was snapped out of her thoughts when a warm pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her shoulders without warning. It startled her so much she flinched.

"I'm so sorry, Ranma. Nobody should have to go through life without knowing their mother. I may have lost mine really young, but I still had time to make memories with her. If you want, I'll help you find her sometime, ok? If we can at least find out her name, we can see if she's still alive and go from there."

"Th-thank you, Akane..." Ranma stuttered out. She's wasn't used to this much intimate contact. She didn't even know the last time she was hugged. For Akane's part, she was nearly in tears from hearing Ranma's story and couldn't help but feel for the lonely girl in her arms.

* _click!_ *

The sound of a shutter closing made Akane release Ranma and whip around to find they weren't alone.

"Nabiki?! What have I told you about taking pictures of me without asking?!" Akane fumed.

Nabiki just smiled with her camera in hand. "Sorry sis, but how can I resist such a juicy opportunity?"

"W-what do you want, Nabiki?" Ranma stuttered again, unsure what to think of the photo. Something about Nabiki really rubbed her the wrong way, and after the horrible first impression she got, she didn't seem to trust the taller girl much at all. Not to mention the conversation she heard last night proving Nabiki to be somewhat of a pervert.

"I'm actually here to see you, Ranma-chan. I've got a letter here from Kuno," she said, handing it over to the now scowling martial artist.

"A challenge? Please. This guy doesn't know when to quit," she scoffed.

"It's actually addressed to your girl half," Nabiki added.

"My girl half? Doesn't matter to me, I'll clock him either way."

Ranma opened the letter carefully and began reading aloud, "To the tree-borne kettle girl, I wish to meet with thee at..." she trailed off into silence before blurting out, "He says he wants to meet me in the field behind the school Sunday at ten. It's a challenge, alright."

"Are you actually gonna go?" Akane asked, clearly thinking the showboating oaf wasn't worth the trouble.

Ranma looked up from the letter at her and replied with stern determination, "Don't see why not. He didn't bother me at school today so I assumed this was over, but I guess not. I think it's best to end this nonsense with him before it gets worse."

"Sounds like a wise decision to me. He can go a bit overboard at times," Nabiki added before excusing herself into the house. "Have fun at your little play date, Ranma-chan~!"

Ranma sneered in her direction, watching the girl leave to annoy god knows who else.

"Don't let her get to you Ranma, that's just how she is. Would you like me to go with you?" Akane asked, partly out of curiosity to see a full-on fight between the two, and partly to drag Ranma off to the clinic in case it went bad.

"Sure, but don't interfere. A formal challenge needs to be met with formal respect, and if you butt in, my honor as a martial artist is worthless. You can watch, but no matter what, do not jump in. Do you understand?"

Akane met Ranma's unexpectedly serious gaze with a surprised look of respect before quietly (and mockingly) adding, "Hai, sensei."

The fateful morning had arrived and the tree-borne kettle girl was prepared for any attack kendo-boy might throw at her. She'd spent the rest of the week practicing katas and sparring in her girl form, even going so far as having Akane come at her with a bamboo practice sword with all her might. From the moment she got home from school those days, she was sure to wash her face with cold water to trigger the transformation and get right into her training. Training that really seemed to impress the Tendo girls and make Akane more confident that she made the right decision to not fight Ranma on that first day of school. The ability gap was getting more and more obvious to her.

Genma had also taken notice of this peculiar training routine of his son's that made him simultaneously proud of the boy's determination to take the fight seriously, and uncomfortable that this meant from school until a nighttime bath, the boy was a girl.

Two days before the match, Genma had finally made a point to address this problem with the kid. After Ranma had splashed himself and changed, he approached the girl and asked why she was a girl right after school again.

Ranma looked at her father with half-lidded eyes as if to say 'really?'. She'd already told him of the fight and how the challenge was to her girl half, so that's what she needed to train as, but he kept annoying her about it. It wasn't hard to figure out that he didn't like seeing his son turned into his daughter, so she used the opportunity to mess with him and make him even more uncomfortable.

"Gee, I don't know pops," she said, folding her arms behind her head in casual thought. "I guess it's just more comfortable after dealing with being the new kid at school. It's like changing out of your school uniform every day." ' _That aught to ruffle his feathers_ ,' she thought.

Genma frowned. "You'll need to get one eventually," he said flatly.

The girl with the blackish pigtail wasn't expecting that. She didn't exactly care to wear the boys' uniform at school. "The guys' uniform is so stiff looking. It'd get torn up the moment a fight breaks out, so it'd be much better to have my Chinese silks, don't you think?" ' _Besides_ ,' she thought, ' _Don't we need to get back to China to try and find a cure? He's probably just waiting for the arranged marriage before leaving on a training trip like that_.'

"That is true," Genma responded. "But we'll be here a while and I don't like you spending so much time as a girl. You need to dress more like a man! Hold yourself up like a man!"

Ranma met his anger with a nonchalant shrug. "But that feels like giving up, y'know? Like I'm just caving into your pressure to be the boy you think I _should_ be, instead of being who _I_ want to be. Now the girls' uniform, though... at least that would give me the freedom to fight if I needed to. There's lots of mobility in a skirt." She smirked at the old man's sneer.

"Boy, I forbid you from wearing girls' clothes!" He had his fists balled tight and Ranma could see them shaking in anger. Just a little more...

"Ah, but hot water is so hard to find. Maybe I should just start going to school as a girl too, It's so much more practical, don't you think? And then people will stop talking about that silly 'fiancee' rumor, too. I'd have to stave off the boys, though. I _am_ pretty cute..." she trailed off with her finger on her chin and her eyes staring up into space.

Genma lunged. " _I FORBID IT_!" he shouted; his fist flying straight at the girl's face.

" _Now_ I can get a proper workout! Come and get it, old man!" and the fight was on. It ended up being one of the most intense spars Ranma had had in years, but she was all the more grateful for it. Now she was sure she was ready to wipe the floor with Kuno once and for all.

She stood in the field on that bright Sunday morning, glaring off into the distance. Akane tucked her hair behind her ear as a small breeze went by, ruffling the fighter's loose clothes. The clang of metal against a baseball called out in the distance alongside the faint sounds of voices coming from the first field of the school. It was peaceful and the calm seemed to hang thick in the air until the figure of a boy in a hakama came into view.

Ranma immediately tensed her muscles upon seeing him, ready for anything that came her way.

"So, you have come, my tree-borne kettle-girl," quoth the samurai.

"Yeah, and _you're_ late," spat the cheeky little girl. "You don't learn quick, do ya pal?"

She took a stance, ready for the fight to begin, but then noticed the boy wasn't moving at all, and seemed to be missing something. "Well? You ready or what? Where's your sword, huh?"

"Heh," he scoffed, turning dramatically to the side. "I have no need of a sword."

Ranma arched a brow. "Oh yeah? Pretty confident, I guess."

"Confident enough to give you... _THIS!_ " he shouted, throwing an object at the girl so fast she couldn't even see what it was. She instinctively reached up to catch it, only realizing after a moment that what Kuno had thrown was a beautiful bouquet of roses wrapped in a bow. She was stunned by the unexpected move.

"I love you," the boy said in a calm and soothing tone.

Akane looked on with wide eyes and covered her mouth in surprise.

Ranma's knees felt weak and she collapsed to the grass, moved by the words she had never heard before. Her heart pounded hard in her chest and her face flushed red. She tried to mutter some words but her brain was so broken at the declaration of love she couldn't even think to get any words out. All she could do is watch as the tall boy walked dramatically off into the distance from whence he came.

"...And that's how it went. Ranma was so shocked he couldn't even respond until after his bath," Akane finished telling the family at lunch. Ranma slammed his head on the table, his face flush with embarrassment.

"And you didn't even chase after him and beat him up?" Nabiki asked in surprise. "Who'd have thought loverboy would have such an effect on you."

"I-It's not like that! I just..." he protested, turning his face to avoid eye contact, "It just caught me off guard! Nobody's ever said they loved me before..."

Nobody noticed the scolding look Kasumi shot at Genma, who was silently wearing a mask of fury.

"Well hey, he may have a screw loose but you can do a lot worse than Kuno," Nabiki teased. "Did his declaration of love make your heart pound in your throat?"

Ranma was a beet.

"Nabiki, lay off him!" Akane defended.

Nabiki couldn't help but continue. "That's some pretty girly sentiment there. Are you sure you're not a girl cursed to be a boy or something, Ranma- _chaaan_ ~?" she cooed.

"If that's what estrogen does to me with a few simple words and some flowers, maybe I'm not so comfortable being a girl afterall. Thanks for the lunch, Kasumi. I'm gonna go work out in the dojo for a bit."

Genma and Soun cheered at this news as Ranma got up from the table and headed out to the practice hall. This may have been a blessing in disguise if it meant the boy would rather be a man!

' _I don't get why he's so worked up, though_ ,' Akane thought to herself, finishing up her rice. ' _Kuno's said he loves me a dozen times and I just brush it off. I need to go talk with him_.'

Akane approached the dojo and slowly slid the door open so as not to disturb the boy doing a kata in the center of the room. She took a seat against the wall and watched as Ranma steadied his breath and moved like water from one form to another, fighting some invisible enemy. A punch here, a duck there, and a quick spin on his heel into an uppercut launching the invisible enemy far into the air, where Ranma jumped high and threw out a kick, knocking the enemy hard into the floor before landing gently and without a sound himself. It was when he finished and stood still, hands clasped together and carefully measuring his breathing, that Akane noticed the entire dance had been done with his eyes closed the whole time.

"What now?" Ranma suddenly barked, snapping Akane out of her astonishment. She had to fight off a small blush of embarrassment with a cough before standing up to meet Ranma in the center of the room.

"Well," she began, regaining her confidence, "You acted so embarrassed because Kuno said he loved you, but why? He says it to me all the time and I've never fallen to my knees like a mute tomato!"

Ranma could feel his face light up from being reminded again about his embarrassment. ' _Why won't she just let it go?!_ ' he thought.

"Yeah, well, how do YOU cope with it then, hmm?"

"Simple, he's a moron and I'd never give him the time of day. I just beat him to a pulp and move on with life."

Ranma stared her down. "Do you remember the first time someone confessed to you? Do you remember how you felt when he said those words? I bet you reacted just like me."

Akane flinched, knowing it was true. She broke eye contact and began scratching her cheek recalling the memory and simply stuttered out, "Ah, well- I knew nothing could happen between us so I turned her down."

"Her?"

She cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah, well," she stammered on, embarrassed to reveal the truth, but she knew she had to. "When I was a little girl, I had short hair and was a bit of a tomboy..."

Ranma just arched a brow and crossed his arms.

"Fine, _more_ of a tomboy! Jerk..." she scowled before continuing. "A lot of times other kids thought I was a boy because I never wore dresses or skirts or anything. I was even cast as Romeo in the school play, can you believe it?"

Ranma let out a light chuckle. "Heh, I can see that I guess. With your long hair though, it's kinda hard to picture you being one of the boys."

"A couple of the girls in class had no problem with it. Being elementary school, I could hardly take it seriously when one of the girls confessed to me. We were only seven!"

"So if you _used to_ be a tomboy, what made you grow your hair out and start wearing skirts and stuff?"

She thought back, recalling the moment she made that decision. The moment she first realized that her crush liked someone else, and the moment she decided to be more like her so the guy she liked might like her in return. She wasn't about to admit her crush to Ranma, though.

"I just..." she paused, trying to think of a valid reason, and ended up coming up with, "I just wanted to be more like Kasumi is all! There's no reason for a girl to act like a boy. A girl should act like a _girl_ and dress like a _girl_ , right?"

Ranma thought about that for a moment and wasn't quite sure he agreed with such rigid expectations of people, but he didn't want to make Akane mad again so he held his tongue on the matter. He'd have to bring that up again later when the time was right, but for now, he thought it best to get back to the subject and avoid a fight. "I mean, I _guess_ so, but... aside from that one girl and that blowhard at school... and the 'hentai horde', I guess... has anyone ever told you seriously that they loved you? In a romantic way and everything?"

"I..." she paused for a moment to think back and drew a blank. "I don't think so."

Ranma frowned, taking Akane's hands in his.

"W-what are you doing?!" Akane freaked, trying to squirm away, but she couldn't pull herself from his grip.

"Akane..." he breathed, looking deep into her eyes. Her bright hazel eyes staring back at the dark slate ones peering deep into her soul. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat. No boy had ever looked at her this way before. The serious, determined confidence on his face made her unable to look away.

A moment passed in silence as they stared into each others' eyes.

"Akane Tendo... I love you."

It took only a second to register but when it did, Akane jerked back completely flush in the face with her heart pounding so loud she bet the whole world could hear it.

"R-Ranma, what are you s-saying..." she barely managed to squeak out before he killed the moment with a loud raspberry blown into his palms.

"Ha! See? You did it too! You're not so tough, Akane!"

"You, you- _idiot_!" Akane yelled and smacked Ranma as hard as she could, sending him flying through the open door, past Nabiki and her camera, and straight into the koi pond with a loud splash.

A second later and the familiar sounding girl emerged, barely able to say, "What'd you do that for?" between her spurts of laughter. A laughter Akane joined in on when she saw that goofy smile on her new friend's face.

Genma and Soun arrived to see what the commotion was to find the girls laughing with each other on the edge of the porch, thoroughly confused.

"Nabiki, what happened here? Why is Akane's face all red?" her father asked out of curiosity.

Nabiki just smiled and lolled her camera in front of him. "You just missed something good!"

 **Author's Note:** So there you have it, this is the next chapter that I'd been sitting on for almost two years, slowly updated in that time. I haven't done anything for the next one yet (the doll and the fight) so it might be a little while, but the one after is an original chapter that I also wrote way back at the start of this thing. All that needs is to be updated for consistency with the currently posted project. I can't give an ETA on either, though.

I hope you all enjoy the silliness of this one and enjoy seeing Ranma and Akane slowly becoming actual friends. I have so many plans for them to take advantage of that in the future. On that note, the reason I caved and mentioned Ranma's hair color here is because apparently I mentioned Akane having a blue hue in the first chapter, something lots of people with black hair have in reality, and I thought this might be an interesting way to set up a joke waaaaay later in the cat's tongue arc (which I already have the ending to written out).

In the downtime between my posts, I've also been reading the new stories that get posted and honestly, it's the recent lull in new content that's prompted me to come back and do more with this. I was really loving a few stories here, but it seems like we haven't had any updates to them in months. Here's hoping I can return that inspiration a bit. I want to see more of what you all have in this specific 'Ranma as a girl' genre.

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you again next time! Hopefully it won't be another two years.


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